


The Informant

by VicenteValtieri



Series: The Informers [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Assault, Don't answer it either, Explicit Sex, I should be working on anything else, I thought- oh, I want to do that, I'm calling it watersports, Is it bukake if its just one mech orgasming multiple times?, M/M, Miscarriage, More reasons to hate me, Rape, Right?, Spark Bond, Sparklings, Stockholm Syndrome (kinda), Watersports, Well - Freeform, and it ambushed me, attempted suicide, boy plot bunny! 5000 words or less, bukake, but this was a plot bunny, forced spark bond, how would docking work for transformers?, i just don't know how, i kinda hate myself for this one, i've written way too much of it already, is it watersports if the liquid comes out of what would be an anus on humans?, lots of them - Freeform, obv, that was a question i don't want to ask again, wrestled me down and made me write it, wrong., you're gonna hate me for this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-11-12 03:49:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 96
Words: 66,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11153619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicenteValtieri/pseuds/VicenteValtieri
Summary: Optimus Prime's Informant is revealed to be his spark bonded mate, Starscream, but as time ticks on and more characters are drawn into the web, their relationship may not be all that meets the eye. Pharma has a long memory where his estranged aeriemate is concerned and his new mate, Kaon, is slowly earning his trust. As Megatron becomes determined to destroy Optimus prome and return Starscream to where the Seeker belongs, Optimus Prime must protect his mate against the encroaching tides of war and his own men as well as desperately attempting to conceal the sins of the past.In order to protect his mate and their developing sparklings, Optimus may have to sacrifice his reputation and his position as Autobot Commander.





	1. Heading to You

Optimus slipped out of the Ark carefully. The message from his Decepticon informant had been terse and demanding. “Meet me at these coordinates. Come quickly.”

Optimus had agreed hurriedly, but was confused. Normally his bonded was much more verbose than that, though no less hesitant to make demands. Something must have happened.

He transformed, heading directly out through the desert to their cave. He felt the tugs on his spark as he neared his bonded’s side. It had been too long since their last meeting. It was always too long to wait. Pressing out a half-flirtatious, half-questioning pulse with his spark, he received an encouraging pulse back. His bonded felt the frustration too, something that their nightly sessions over their sparks could not satisfy.

The last time they had seen each other had been in battle. They had managed, then, to be hidden among some of the thick mats of foliage for a few precious moments and exchanged a desperate kiss, groping each other’s panels and digging fingertips into transformation seams. The laser fire brought it out in them, Optimus supposed.

They had been torn apart all too quickly by the currents of the fight. His bonded’s position was precarious, would not survive an indiscretion. The kiss had been a token of how long the war had raged and how much they missed each other.

Though Optimus thought it was a miracle that his bonded even wanted to be with him. Loving him was a greater gift by far than anything he would dare ask for. 

To his surprise, there was a shadow with a mech’s form waiting for him in the entry to their cave. Long ago, before they had added any of the luxuries they kept within, they had agreed that it was better for one to wait within for the other. They were less likely to be seen and tracked if they did not linger where the sun reached.

Optimus opened his facemask, his bonded’s spark had closed and would not answer his questioning. “Am I welcomed, my love?”

A sky blue servo beckoned him in from the shadows, the sun’s last light catching the digits, and a familiar, grating, beloved voice spoke. “Of course, beloved. Come into my aerie.”

Optimus’s shoulders relaxed slightly. All was well, that was the code word they had long established since before the war truly raged. “Sweetscream. It’s been far too long.” He rushed in, scooping the Seeker into his arms and holding him to his windshield, lips finding the other’s with practiced ease.

Starscream moaned softly into the kiss as Optimus drew them further into the cavern, away from prying optics or human eyes. “You say that every time, Pax.”

“And it is true every time I say it.” Optimus kissed him again, more deeply this time, tasting the spice of his love’s glossa.

Starscream sighed and pressed the hidden lever. “Not now, Pax. I must speak to you and I believe it would be best if we waited.” He pressed his hands into Optimus’s shoulders. “Though our separation has worn on me as well.”

Optimus nodded and relaxed his grip on the Seeker’s waist slightly. “Of course. Why have you called me here, Starscream?”

“I have news that I must relay in person.” Starscream guided Optimus into the cavern and the door fell shut behind him.

“I’m listening.” Optimus gently pulled Starscream down into his lap as he settled into the berth. “Tell me.”

Starscream bit his lips. “Pax, something has happened… Something wonderful…”

Optimus nodded, stroking his faceplates. “You can tell me. Go ahead.”

Starscream’s optics welled with coolant and his vocalizer stuttered with static. “I cannot. I cannot. I’m sorry. I cannot.”

Optimus pulled him closer and stroked his wings. “Is it something about the war?” He supposed he would have to play a guessing game with his bonded.

“No, no, this is- this is between you and I.” Starscream whimpered.

Optimus was many things, but not stupid. His processor was putting things together. “Has this thing happened before?” 

“Yes, a long time ago.” Starscream nuzzled deeper into his windshield, seeking comfort. Optimus stroked his vents and patted his back.

“Starscream… Are you carrying?”

The Seeker nodded into his neckcables and let out a distressed scree. 

Optimus rubbed his back in firm circles. “But… I thought the cervix cap…”

“It must have malfunctioned. It’s been millions of years since I had it installed.” Starscream sobbed. “Optimus, what are we going to do? If Hook finds out…”

Optimus lightly approached an idea. “You have… a bit of a reputation among the Decepticon army. Can it be used?”

“No. Megatron knows I haven’t taken a lover since the early days.” Starscream drew back. “And no one would risk claiming it, especially if it wasn’t theirs. I would have to find someone and convince them to… to breed me like a drone.”

Optimus’s spark reacted immediately with outrage and refusal. Starscream’s lips twitched up. “I rail against the idea as well, my love.”

Optimus nodded and pulled Starscream flush to him, the joy of being a Sire overflowing his spark and reaching his bonded, whose own spark responded with an equal joy. They exchanged love, joy, and excitement as well as fear and anticipation for a few moments.

Starscream murmured. “What are we going to do, Optimus?”

“We always knew that there would be an end to your time as an informant, Starscream.” Optimus stroked his cheek. “It seems it’s finally come.”

Starscream nodded. “I will be glad to leave, but I wish I could do more. I think I should go back, just once, and do a data dump before I finally leave.”

“Are you sure, Starscream?” Optimus lifted his Seeker away from his chassis and looked into his optics. “I just want you to be safe.”

“I’ll be safe. My cover is still perfect. If not for the sparkling, I would be going back for a long time yet.” Starscream stroked his cockpit above his spark chamber. “Besides, you have to prepare your Autobots for my arrival, don’t you?”

“I do, but I thought you could stay here until then.” Optimus murmured. “There’s enough energon to last a few weeks.” He chuckled. “Maybe one week with the sparkling, eh?”

Starscream sighed and shook his helm. “You mean well, Optimus.”

“Speaking of energon, how are your levels?” Optimus questioned. “Shall we have a cube?” He was always concerned for his mate’s health when he was away. He had seen Starscream with grey edges once and been terrified nearly out of his wits. Right there on the battlefield, he had dragged the Seeker into the barest cover and brought out a donation tube. Starscream had struggled all the way, hissing “What are you doing?” So, if anyone had seen them at an angle, they would have thought they were wrestling.

Starscream had grown adept at filtering pain and discomfort through the bond, so Optimus didn’t have as much information at all times as he would like. Generally, if he asked, Starscream would give him a rundown on whatever was going on at the time and if he was suffering or lonely, he would reach out, but that put him in danger from Soundwave, the telepath.

If Soundwave ever found out about them….

Let’s just say he couldn’t ever find out or they were both dead. But it was over. Soon, they wouldn’t be worried over Soundwave. They would be free to be together. They could start their lives together anew, with their child on the way. And it would be better this time. Optimus promised himself that.

Touching Starscream’s spark gently with his own, he promised them both that.

Starscream squeezed his servo gently. “It will be all right, Optimus. We made mistakes. We learned. It won’t happen again.”

Optimus nodded and leaned Starscream back against his windshield. Reaching over to the cold chest, he offered Starscream a cube of chilled energon. The Seeker began sipping it slowly, savoring pure energon. 

The convoy rubbed Starscream’s wings gently, feeling tension ease out of the other’s frame as cables loosened and relaxed. “I know, Starscream. I love you.”

“I love you too, Optimus.” They cuddled close together for another hour before Starscream had to leave to get back to the Nemesis. The itch that they felt so keenly whenever they were apart was sated by their closeness.

“Do you really want to go back?” Optimus questioned. “I die a little every time I see you fly away from me.”

“This is important. If I can do a full data dump, we might be able to decrypt some important files from the mainframe. I’ll be all right, Optimus. I promise.” Starscream nuzzled his neckcables.

“I trust you.” Optimus murmured back. “But come… come back quickly. I don’t like you in his reach.”

“I don’t like being there either.” Starscream replied. “But it’s just one more time. I’ll be there for twelve cycles at the most, so you have to get your Autobots ready to see me.”

“They won’t like it. It may be hard, but if they don’t want you… then they don’t want me either.” Optimus stroked Starscream’s helm. “Shall I go out first?”

Starscream paused to consider. “You know, I think I feel risky today. Let’s go out together.”

Optimus nodded and took his servo, squeezing it. It was gratifying to feel the digits squeeze back. There had been too many times when they hadn’t.


	2. 4 Million Years Before

Iacon, the seat of the Senate’s power and the Prime’s stranglehold over Cybertron. Starscream glared out across the skyline over the sleeping city.

“It’s almost beautiful.” Thundercracker mused from his wing. “All right, what’s the plan, Wing Commander?” 

Starscream pressed his lipplates together. “The plan is chaos. I’ll be honest, this is going to be base terrorism. We’re going to break into random penthouse apartments, shake up mechs, and scare sparklings. If we cause enough chaos, gain enough attention, the Senate calls Emergency Session. Then, we’ll get them.”

Skywarp chuckled. “This is a plan I can get behind. Can I pick the first one?”

“Go ahead. I have a list of mechs we don’t want to hurt, though, so keep that in mind.” Starscream handed his trinemate the datapad.

“Great. Let’s go.” Skywarp pointed to a tall building that screamed wealth in the sheer amount of windows and drapery. “That one!”

“Remember, this isn’t about raiding.” Starscream reminded his trinemates. “Don’t steal anything: This is just about making the rich and powerful afraid, not physically gaining anything for ourselves.”

Skywarp sighed. “Not even if it’s something really, really nice?”

“What if it doesn’t belong to the mechs in question in the first place?” Thundercracker bit out. Starscream knew exactly what he meant: He wanted to take back artifacts and treasures that these rich, pampered mechs had extorted from their home city.

Starscream sighed. “Tell you what, if you see anything you recognize as being stolen from Vos or Tarn, you can take it. But it goes into the artifacts vault as soon as we get back to Kaon.”

“Agreed.” His wingmates nodded sharply and they soared out onto the breeze. Their paintjobs were blacked out and temporary face masks slid into place over their own. Only the Decepticon emblems hadn’t been taken off. The war was about to come to Iacon.

Starscream landed on the penthouse’s balcony and reached the security pad within five seconds. He had it hacked and disarmed in twenty. 

“And this is why you should always have a turbofox.” Skywarp muttered. “At least it will sound the alarm before it dies.”

“Indeed.” Starscream nodded. “All right, mechs, I’m not teeking anything alive. Go all out.”

Thundercracker had rushed to an enameled vase made in the Vosnian style and was examining it. “It’s a fake.” He snorted and knocked it off the pedastel. It shattered into a hundred pieces: Definitely fake.

Whomever the mech who owned the penthouse was, he had a taste for the Vosnian aesthetic. There were three other Vosnian-styled vases and all of the furniture had tell tale claw-carvings on the edgings. Thundercracker cut each one off, taking note of the artist’s glyph. Some starving Seeker, looking to make a living, but no one he recognized: Not an artifact, in other words. He scratched through the designs and arranged them on the floor. Starscream wanted this to look absolutely insane.

Starscream took great pleasure, mixed with regret, in shredding the plush berths he found. They were full of expensive materials and padded with polymers. 

It was fun to toss great handfuls of things all about. Skywarp sighed, gazing at the bright jewels he was systematically picking out of settings and throwing into the air. He wished he could snag a handful for his subspace, but Starscream would definitely roast his aft if he did. Besides, Megatron had promised the Vosnians the Prime’s Treasury in recompense for their city. Vos lay in ruins, the first strike in the Senate’s vengeance against the rebels who dared to speak out, to wish for better treatment for all, not some.

The three Seekers left the apartment trashed as only Seekers could. Thundercracker had found a Vosnian Angel Statuette and was cooing over it in their bolthole. “It’s exquisite work, a Nightscream.” He stroked its brilliant, glass head. It was made from the natural glass that formed around Vos when the annual lightning storms came to the city. The strikes melted sand and variegate into glowing, pale glass that seemed to glow from within. It was a highly sought after material and the Statuette’s carved from it were equally valued.

“Good job.” Starscream admired the small carving as well. “Box it up so nothing happens to it.”

“Aye, Aye.” Thundercracker agreed, packing the Statuette away into a metal box filled with packing polymer. He pressed a button on the side and the polymer went rigid around the Angel, protecting it from all harm. 

Skywarp sighed wistfully. “Did you see all the jewels? Oh, Star… Can’t I have just one next time?”

Starscream smacked the back of his helm. “No, that would undermine what we’re trying to do here.” 

Thundercracker stroked his mate’s wings. “When the war is over, I’ll get you a whole collar of jewels.”

Skywarp cuddled into him. “Promise?”

Starscream groaned and left them to their romance. It was sickening.

 

Orion Pax examined the evidence. It seemed that a group of vandals had broken into the apartment and proceeded to absolutely destroy it. The irritation that simmered constantly under the surface of his processor was threatening to break out into full-blown irritation. Who did stupid stuff like this?

He picked up a shard of what was once an expensive glass artwork. It had been a dangling light fixture- a chandelier- and something had grabbed it and pulled it down. Perhaps even swung from it a couple times from where the crystals had fallen. 

Prowl, his partner, was taking it all in. “Hmm. I would surmise a group of three vandals, of an unknown frametype invaded this apartment. What they expected to find, I don’t know yet.”

“Is there anything we can assume?” Orion Pax continued tracing the trail of shattered glass past an enameled vase, similarly treated.

“Well, it was the Decepticons.” Prowl stated.

The Decepticons. The mere name made the convoy’s energon boil. “How do you know that?” 

“They left a calling card.” Prowl pointed down at the floor to where the Decepticon sigil had been carved into the floor. “Whoever it is, they want our attention.”

“Then let’s give it to them.” Orion growled. “We can’t let this go unanswered, this is despicable!”

“We can’t just run about accusing random mechs either.” Prowl cautioned Orion. “We need to find out exactly who was responsible for this.”

There was a wail from the next room. The two police officers snapped towards it and rushed in. The homeowner- a retired Praxian racer called Fasttrack- was standing in front of an open safe and clutching his helm. “It’s gone!”

“What’s gone?” Prowl flipped open his datapad. 

“A Vosnian Angel Statuette.” Fasttrack wept. “I brought it back from Vos after the attack earlier in the solar cycle. It was a gift from my commanding officer! It was the pride of my collection.”

“You brought back spoils from Vos? Looting is forbidden under the Tyrest Accords!” Prowl hissed. “Strictly forbidden!”

Fasttrack glared at the Praxian police car. “What are you talking about? You won’t find a single soldier who left that city without something to sweeten the paycheck we received. Our officers gave us free reign.”

Orion mentally nodded. That made sense. The destruction of Vos had been a punishment for a rebellious city. It was only fair that the mechs in question helped to pay the soldiers for a situation that they had created. 

If this doesn’t sound like Optimus Prime then good: Orion Pax is not Optimus Prime. He was hot-headed, bad-tempered, and the worst kind of Functionist: The kind who didn’t believe they were. As such, he was unconsciously looking down on the Seekers for rebelling against their “place.” Orion Pax was comfortable in his life as a hard-riding hot-shot cop. He hadn’t seen the suffering the Senate and Council wrought with their dictates and had no idea of the chaos that had been unleashed on the hundreds of innocent Seekers who inhabited Vos at the time. It was not the Decepticons who were punished- the Decepticons were based in Tarn and Kaon- their positions of strength. Vos- the home of a warframe which filled the grounders of Iacon with dread- was chosen for destruction because it was weak and most of its soldier-citizens were in Tarn and Kaon, with the rest of the Decepticon force. 

While Prowl chewed Fasttrack out, Orion got to work actually studying the rest of the crime scene. It was a devastating mess. Nothing had been left intact. Oddly, it seemed that nothing but the Vosnian Angel had been stolen either. Even an array of jeweled pieces had merely been mangled and strewn about. 

“It was the Decepticons.” Prowl caught up to his partner. “And nothing was taken but a Vosnian artifact. Further, my assessment has revealed that the balcony was the point of entry. I would hypothesize that we’re looking for a group of three Seekers.”

“They should stand out like a sore digit.” Orion nodded. “We can set out an observation warrant for Seekers and keep an optic on any of them trying to enter or exit the city.”

Prowl nodded, already doing the paperwork on his datapad. “Agreed.”


	3. Confrontation

It was a good thing Optimus and Starscream decided to go together because, unbeknownst to Optimus, he had crossed over one of his men’s patrols and accidentally led them to the cavern in his hurry. 

“Starscream!” Ironhide cried as soon as the Seeker was visible and leveled his gun.

“No!” Optimus put himself bodily between the Seeker and his soldiers, spark pulsing a pacifying wave to his mate. “Don’t fire! Starscream is here under a flag of truce!”

Prowl came forwards, expression impassive. “Prime, why are you meeting with the second in command of the Decepticons here?”

“This is neutral territory. Starscream is here to negotiate, with myself alone. You were not supposed to intervene.” Optimus replied tightly.

Starscream spoke across their bond, showing Optimus a picture of the Nemesis. The Prime responded with understanding. He needed to return quickly. “Starscream is going to leave now. None of you are to fire on him.”

Starscream took to the air, sending a farewell pulse to Optimus and transforming to shoot off towards the ocean. Ironhide glared at him as he went and Bluestreak looked like he desperately wanted to snipe the tricolor mech to the ground. 

Prowl frowned. Perhaps he noticed that Starscream had followed his “commands” without any prompting or instruction. Knowing Prowl, he would set his processor to work and come up with their bond given enough time. This was exactly why he had never told anyone about there being an informant beyond the most basic. Starscream’s danger level had just tripled, a level for each mech who knew his identity.

Bluestreak was talking the moment Starscream was out of sight range. “Sir, we just let a very dangerous Decepticon go after he had a meeting with you. It’s Starscream, he’s known to be brutal to the point of savagery, what if he’s made a virus implant that-“

Optimus held up a servo. “Bluestreak, you must not mention this meeting to anyone back at the base. It would compromise a great deal that must be kept secret for the forseeable future, do you understand?”

Bluestreak’s lipplates clicked shut. “Yes, sir, but I really must protest as I cannot see how-“

“Bluestreak, please.” Optimus turned to Ironhide and Prowl. “I must ask you to do the same. I promise. Within a few days, everything will be made clear.”

Ironhide’s brow ridges furrowed. “I don’ like this, Prime.” 

“I understand, Ironhide, but I promise, all will be made clear.” Prime held out his servos. “When have I let you down before?”

Ironhide relented, nodding. “Ah trusted you for years, Prime. Ah’ll trust you on this as well.”

Optimus turned his optics on Prowl and waited.

“I trust your judgment, Prime. If you think bargaining with Starscream, of all mechs, is the best way to serve the Autobot cause, then I trust you have a plan.”

“Oh, I do, and I will explain it, after the danger has passed.” A glint of light caught his optics and he turned his helm to look. He didn’t see anything of note, though. “So this really must be kept quiet.”

Prowl nodded. “I will see that Jazz knows not to mention it to anyone.” Of course, if Prowl knew, his bondmate did too. Optimus had often envied them their freedom to be together without fear.

But he would have Starscream at his proper place soon. He could only hope that his Autobots could accept his mate without too much difficulty. 

Of course, that would only happen if they knew he was Optimus’s mate.

Optimus squared his shoulders and turned to Prowl. “Schedule an officers meeting for sixteen cycles from now. It should be all over and done by then.” He sent a last burst of love to his Seeker before Starscream reached Soundwave’s sphere of influence, winging away towards their enemies as quickly as he could, and felt his core warmed by the pulse he received in return.

Prowl nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The Autobots transformed and rolled out towards the Ark.


	4. The List

Starscream and Thundercracker hacked into the Senator’s apartment and Starscream paused to teek. “Two sparklings and another life sign. Probably a servant of some sort. Thundercracker, take him and give him a good scare, but don’t let him make any communications. Skywarp, distract the sparklings. I’ll do our wrecker job.”

“Make sure to keep an eye out-“

“For artifacts. I know, TC.” Starscream sighed and took to the air. 

Thundercracker tackled the nanny and knocked it unconscious, tying it up. Skywarp went into the nursery and checked on the sparklings. Poking his helm out, he whispered. “If you’re careful, you might not wake them. They’re really young.”

“How young?” Starscream whispered back.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell with grounders.” Skywarp popped back into the nursery. “Really little, though. I think they’re data slugs.”

Starscream nodded and he and Thundercracker began the dance of the apartment destruction. Thundercracker took the office and Starscream took the living room. Starscream hummed to himself as he carefully overturned chairs and shredded cushions. He took glass pieces into the washracks to smash them in soundproofed comfort.

Thundercracker poked his helm out. “Star, come look at this.” He waved a datapad at the Seeker.

Starscream entered the office. “What is it?”

“This is a high-ranking archivist’s quarters. Look at these.” Thundercracker showed him a register. “This is a list of the soldiers involved in Vos’s destruction.” They exchanged glances and Starscream nodded. Thundercracker wanted to break down the doors and search for stolen treasures.

“Take a copy of that and smash the datapad.” Starscream ordered quietly. “Look for anything else we can use, but hurry. We need to absolutely destroy this office behind us.”

“With pleasure.” Thundercracker took a copy and smashed the datapad on the edge of the desk.

Starscream went back out into the main room and turned the berthroom inside out. When he was done, he helped Thundercracker go through the office and smash every datapad before they disassembled the desk.

Skywarp gave a last coo to the twin data slugs and they cut the caretaker out of his bonds. “We can’t just leave the babies alone.” Skywarp pouted. “Something might happen.”

“Fine, but come on.” Starscream headed for the window they had come through.

 

Orion Pax listened as the nanny who had been found unconscious when the police arrived at the archivist’s home. “I don’t know what happened. One moment I was just checking on the sparklings, then a black Seeker knocked me out and I just now woke up.” The mech miserably told the blue and red police officer.

Prowl analyzed the rest of the scene. “The measures taken not to disturb the sparklings are in line with Seeker’s strong Carrier-Creator protocols.” He explained to Orion. “These attacks clearly aren’t about personal gain.”

“They’re sending a message.” Orion felt his energon begin to boil again. “They want us to be on the defensive.”

“But what do they really want?” Prowl stroked his jaw. 

“We need to catch one of these sons of glitches and find out.” Orion agreed. “Come on, let’s get out there and do some reconnaissance.”

Prowl nodded. “Until we have some more data- more attacks or locations of attacks- we can’t do much in the office. If we run patrols, we might get lucky.”


	5. Discovery

Starscream looked up from his partially-completed report. He was going over paperwork while the data dump ran in the background processes. Megatron was pacing around, as he always did, but that damnable spy-bird, Lazerbeak, was on his shoulder. Probably reporting on whatever the Insecticons were up to.

He would take great pleasure in finally being able to shoot at that metallic chicken whenever it appeared within optical range. 

He received a ping on the dump’s progress: Eighty percent, almost done. He sent that impression across his bond to his worrying mate and continued his work. Good little Decepticon here, just doing paperwork and thinking of ways to crush the Autobots, ho hum.

There was a chord of amusement from Optimus and he smiled to himself. The sparklet orbiting his bounced and wiggled. It was a large, bright one. It might split on its way to the gestation chamber right below his sparkchamber. He wondered if he would feel it going. 

Megatron’s heavy, black servo landed on his wing. “Starscream, status report.”

“Of myself or the Nemesis, Mighty Megatron?” Starscream sarcastically replied. 

“The Nemesis of course, no one cares about you.” Megatron snapped back.

“Running at seventy percent capacity, fuel reserves down to sixty percent. It’s time to start planning the next raid, I believe.”

“I decide when it’s time to plan another raid, Starscream.”

“Of course, Mighty Megatron, what was I thinking?” Starscream muttered. “It’s just that soldiers fight better when they’re not running at a constant fifty percent.” Hell, he had never been at one hundred percent since before Optimus was in the Primacy.

Megatron smacked him upside the helm for attitude. “Doing reports, Starscream? That’s unusually dutiful of you.”

“Unlike many officers, I take my command seriously, Mighty Megatron.” Starscream bit back, continuing to flick through a report. It was all nonsense. Nothing of import.

“Is that all you’re doing, Starscream?” Megatron leaned further over him. Classic power maneuver. 

Starscream didn’t so much as flinch. “No, Mighty Megatron, I’m also working on Plan Number One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-Three for how I’m going to overthrow you and get our restoration of Cybertron back on track. First, I think I’ll call Unicron and tell him how much nonsense we have to go through in our day to day-“ The blow to the side of his helm was entirely expected. 

“As usual, your attitude is not befitting of a Decepticon warrior, Starscream. Are you certain that you are doing nothing nefarious?” Megatron reached over to the mouse cue and flicked a few pages, annoying Starscream.

“And what do you suspect me of now, Mighty Megatron? Passing information to the Autobots? Oh, indeed, that’s surely likely. I’ll just call up Optimus Prime right now and tell him my cover is blown, shall I?” The Seeker snorted and flicked back to where he had been. “If you will allow me to get on with my work, perhaps some progress could be made.”

Megatron reached over and hit a key on the keyboard. Starscream slammed the bond shut against the wave of fear that went through him as Megatron revealed the ongoing dump. “Indeed, Starscream, why don’t you call up Optimus Prime and tell him that your cover has been blown?”

Starscream composed himself outwardly with an effort. Well, Optimus had been right. He shouldn’t have gone back for one last hit. It had been hubris. Beneath the desk, he gripped the data slug and tucked it into his secondary pocket subspace, producing an empty one as well. A decoy might be useful. How had Megatron found him out, though? Had Soundwave noticed the ongoing activity and reported it?

Starscream’s optics flicked to Lazerbeak in her position on Megatron’s shoulder. He was going to kill the spy-chicken when he got out of this. It was his second order of business, after getting out of this. Without his “usual” lack of subtlety and warning, he silently flipped around and leapt directly up in his seat, landing a hammer kick on Megatron’s faceplates. Using his momentum to propel himself forwards and away, he hoped to escape the tyrant’s reach before…

“Ungh.” Starscream grunted as two servos latched onto his ankle, the grip so tight it was almost crushing. He fired his thrusters, searing the tyrant’s wrists, but Megatron refused to let go. Instead, he lashed to the side, forcing Starscream’s helm into a wall, briefly dazing the Seeker. But he didn’t stay dazed for long. Optimus was urging him to run and the stimulus kept him from fading out.

He landed three good shots, one to Megatron’s cannon- stopping it from firing-, one to Lazerbeak- Primus, that was satisfying-, and one to Megatron’s wrist, forcing him to let go.

Starscream pressed a servo to his cockpit as he ran. “Please, please, please…” He pleaded with Primus as he went, begging that the unfeeling god would spare him and his sparkling for another day. 

Primus heard, but his answer was a sound “No” as Starscream heard the tell-tale sound of a fusion cannon firing up and had to flatten himself to the floor to avoid the shot grazing down the length of his back, warping metal plates and scorching paint. 

Megatron grabbed him by the scruff bar and lifted him into the air, shaking soundly. The Seeker went limp in his grip to avoid being injured and then kicked him in the middle when he stopped shaking him. The gunformer smashed his helm into a wall and then dragged him off down the corridors, still struggling. He didn’t beg, though, or protest innocence. It wouldn’t have done any good.

Starscream recognized where they were going and struggled harder as they neared Megatron’s private torture chamber. The Black Room sent a jolt of terror through Starscream’s spark. Could his sparklet survive this? How long would he have to wait for rescue?

He sent what was happening to Optimus and hoped, praying to a god who had never cared for him before.


	6. 4 Million Years Before: At the Festival

It was a festival of Primus, so the streets were packed with mechs of every frametype coming towards the temples. Sunstorm had commed ahead to make Starscream aware that he was coming to the festival with Acid Storm and Lightning Strike, his mate and trinemate. They would be staying for a few days before returning to the frontlines.

Starscream wasn’t looking forwards to it. Sunstorm could make anything into a drama. Still, they would carry back the few artifacts they had recovered to safety. 

Thundercracker’s list turned out to be scattered between Praxus and Iacon. The mechs who did live in Iacon were about fifty percent officer and command material- good targets for vengeful vandals- and fifty percent ordinary citizen. Fortunately, they were scattered everywhere across the city, which would hide their bolthole. Having a list was useful.

Especially because they had to split the dream team between the two trines. Starscream and Skywarp were the computer experts. If they were going to hit twice as many targets in a night, they had to spread out.

Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker spread out in the crowd. They had to purchase some supplies to restock their own. It had been a week and they were doing incredibly well. It would give them a chance to meet up with the other Seekers as well.

Starscream chose some energon treats in a shop stall and waited as they were boxed up. Suddenly, a golden Seeker with a happy smile and a soothing EM field was at his shoulder. “Primus’s blessings to you, Star.” At least he remembered the codename.

“Primus’s blessing to you, Sun.” Starscream replied. Both of them wore plain paintjobs that vaguely resembled their own colors, but their badges were covered. “How was the journey?”

“It harrowed, but we made it.” Sunstorm replied, walking in step with his Seeker commander. “Big Gun tells me to tell you that he wishes you all health.”

Starscream smiled softly at the mention of his love, the Decepticon Leader, Megatron. “Of course. How is he?”

“Busy, missing you, but your business is important.” Sunstorm continued on to give Starscream a few more clues and keywords as they wandered towards the bolthole- an apartment on the lower side of Iacon. 

Starscream looked up and spotted a red and blue convoy mech standing with a black and white Praxian. Police officers. Sunstorm saw them as well. They put timidity into their EM fields and kept their helms down as they passed them. Orion Pax took them in with a sweep of his optics and lingered on Starscream for a long moment before passing him over.

“Are police officers everywhere?” Sunstorm quietly asked.

“Can you blame them? Strangers in the night have been wrecking apartments to pieces. People are nervous.” Starscream replied. They passed by a pair of data slugs who looked up at the Seeker’s wings and gave them a wide berth.

Sunstorm nodded. “I hope the situation resolves soon.”

Starscream agreed. So did he.

 

Orion Pax kept scanning the crowd of holiday visitors. “It’s going to be impossible to pick out our mechs in this mess. There are mechs of every frame.”

“We still can’t slack off.” Prowl privately agreed. “Our analysis of the recent attacks has revealed a pattern and that pattern points to Seeker, but not to a location.”

“If this keeps going, the Senate will have to call an emergency session to declare martial law.” Orion folded his arms. “There will be chaos.”

Fragging Seekers. Frag them. Frag the Deceptions. Frag Megatron. But above all, Frag the Seekers. This whole mess began in Vos. The Seekers and Warframes had cleaved to Megatron as to their own. It should have ended in Vos as well, a decisive strike to demoralize the Decepticons and remind them what they could lose.

Obviously, it hadn’t worked.

“Perhaps that’s what they want.” Prowl muttered. “To make Iacon feel the war. That may be why they’ve focused on Iacon and left Praxus alone. Because Praxus is already in conditions of martial law.”

“What does making Iacon feel the war help the Decepticons?” Orion grouched. 

“It makes the common people pressure the Senate. Perhaps they’re still pushing for a two-state solution.” Prowl suggested.

Orion snorted. “Right, and I’m a Seeker.” His optics caught on a white and red Seeker passing by with a gold one. He traced over the graceful wings and thick, strong thighs. Physically beautiful, but poisonous at the spark. It was surprising they dared come to Iacon, even for a festival.

Prowl snorted. “Your sarcasm gets worse the longer we stand here.”

“Now you’re starting to get it.”


	7. The Rescuers

Optimus couldn’t recharge that evening. There was a sense of foreboding in the air. Starscream’s spark wiggled against his and tried to soothe him as the Seeker worked his data dump. All was quiet. 

Then, the Seeker’s spark closed itself off from Optimus suddenly. The large convoy mech sat upright in berth, a chill of fear coursing down his spinal strut. His spark pulsed out, searching for its mate, looking for the second half, and found a cold wall. Why had Starscream locked him out?

His spark battered at the other’s, begging to understand, pleading for an explanation. All it got in return was a cold wash of fear and loathing that wasn’t his. Images began to coalesce in his spark: Megatron standing over a computer terminal with Lazerbeak on his shoulder, speaking to the Seeker pretending to work on reports. Then, pain and anger as they struggled and Starscream was dragged, kicking and screaming down into the deepest parts of the Nemesis. Parts the rebellious second knew all too well.

Optimus stood up at once and grabbed his comm unit. “Prowl, I need you and Jazz in my office as soon as possible. I need you to assemble a rescue mission.”

“Rescue mission, Prime? For who?” Prowl was alert at once. Jazz was slower on the uptake.

“Who the frag is calling at this time of the nightcycle?”

“It’s Prime, Jazz. Be quiet.” Prowl replied. “Go ahead, Prime, give me the details.”

“The rescue mission is for our informant. Megatron has discovered him and taken… taken him to the Black Room.” Optimus spoke the name slowly, the words striking terror even as he did. No one left the Black Room alive. Not even when there was a rescue party on the way. It was a death trap, a torture chamber that even the most loyal of Decepticons shuddered at.

“Yes, our ‘informant.’” Prowl hummed. “It wouldn’t happen to be a certain Seeker, would it?”

“As a matter of fact, it is.” Optimus replied. “He requires rescue.”

“How did he contact you to tell you he needs aid if he was taken to the Black Room, Prime?” Prowl was moving, along with Jazz. They would be at his office in minutes.

“I will explain everything, Prowl, once we have Starscream safely back at the Ark where he belongs.” Optimus replied. “Anything else is incidental and irrelevant.”

“Indeed. I think you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do, Prime. A lot of it.” 

Optimus closed the communicator and waited for his officers. The ghosts of history were about to be unearthed and no one was going to enjoy it less than he was.


	8. 4 million Years Ago: Two Emotions

Starscream didn’t enjoy working with Sunstorm. The mech was far too cheery without Skywarp’s mischief to balance it out. Still, they did good work together, destroying things and moving on. With two trines of Seekers active, they hit fourteen targets in a week before they saw the back of Sunstorm and his trine. The police officers who had been following them around seemed to be chasing tails. 

Megatron called- it was a risky transmission, but Soundwave garaunteed it was safe. “Starscream, report.” He ordered his second. A smile hung about the warlord’s lips.

“The populace of Iacon is terrified. Senators are talking about calling an emergency session. On top of that, we have recovered over two hundred Vosnian and Tarnian artifacts from the apartments we’ve vandalized. Sunstorm and his trine will escort them back to Tarn when they leave tonight.” Starscream reported. Then, he smiled easily. “And how are you, my Lord?”

“Missing you at my side.” Megatron sighed. “But you’re the right mech for this job, and you’re doing very well. Have you received the supplies?”

“Of course. All fifteen canisters accounted for. It shouldn’t be too long before I’m back.” Starscream heaved an in-vent and flared his wings. “Perhaps when I get back, we can finally find some time for ourselves. I want to be bonded within the month.”

Megatron smiled back at his love. “You know why I want to delay, Starscream. What if something happens to one of us?”

“If something happens to you, I want to go down with you.” Starscream replied. “I love you, Megatron, and I want to be a part of you as soon as possible.”

Megatron shook his helm. “Oh, Starscream, so impatient. This war will be over within the vorn, can’t you wait until then?” But there was an amused and affectionate smile about his intake and Starscream knew he was wearing the mech down.

Starscream blew a kiss through the monitor. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Megatron pressed his digits to his lips before cutting the connection.

Starscream sighed and turned back to his trinemates. “Back to the grind, all of you.”

Thundercracker and Skywarp saluted and they went to work planning the next strike. This one was a step up in the game.

 

Orion and Prowl continued reading through the data. “We have to catch one of these fraggers and figure out what they’re doing. This just doesn’t make sense.”

Prowl nodded. “We need more information. Information it seems only our Seekers have.”

“They have to make this more intense in some way.” Optimus growled as he continued. “If they’re trying to make the Senate convene, they have to take this a step up- a government building, something like that.”

“Indeed. One of our monuments, perhaps the Primal memorial.” Prowl agreed. “But such sabotage would be difficult to hide and easily noticed. It would be more likely to be a facility or a building. Something that demonstrates Iacon’s superiority.”

Whatever Orion was about to say next was lost in a wave of fire and noise.

Out of the wreck of Iacon’s police center, Orion carried Prowl across his shoulders. The Praxian was in critical condition, but he would live. 

Orion’s energon- kept at a low simmer all that time, began to boil over.


	9. The Black Room

Starscream was strapped down to the table with double-strong restraints. Contrary to its name, the Black Room was bright white and well lit like an operating theater. Tools lined the walls and surrounded the stirruped chair in the center. He still wasn’t saying anything.

Megatron leaned over him. “What happened, Starscream? Of all of my soldiers, I always thought you were the least likely to betray the Decepticons. Myself, personally, I saw coming from klicks away, but I thought you believed in the cause. Is there some malignant coding in your systems? A virus?” He removed the Seeker’s armored helm with care and began examining him for any signs of tampering. “Perhaps Optimus Prime summoned a Mnemosurgeon to add a set of commands to your processor, or the mad scientist, Wheeljack, has reverse engineered Bombshell’s mind control chips?”

Starscream stared up at him, waiting for the slag eater to stop attempting to prove his innocence and start in on punishment. Why he was so interested in this was beyond the Seeker. They hadn’t been close since he had been bonded to Orion Pax and Megatron had been eager to abuse him since then. Still, for the sake of what they once had, and because Optimus was on his way with his little spies and a plan, Starscream felt the urge to confess everything to the mech he had once loved. 

Well, perhaps not everything. He thought of the sparklet in orbit around his own and the bond he shared with Optimus. Some things were better off left. “None of that. My mind is my own.” Optimus’s side of the bond filled with protest. Sometimes, the Autobot leader could be more devious than Starscream. He wanted the Seeker to say something that would make it seem as if the Autobots were to blame, since Megatron seemed inclined to mercy if it was true.

“There were three periods where you simply disappeared. In at least one, you were captured by the Autobots. What did they do to you? Tell me, Starscream, I will help you.” Megatron promised, with the earnest fire that had drawn Starscream to him in the first place.

“The Autobots did nothing to draw or brainwash me to them. I am working for Optimus Prime of my own choice.” It felt good to say it out loud.

Megatron’s fists hit the table hard enough to shake it. Starscream jerked as the two landed on either side of his unarmored head and felt a dent form in the back of his soft, protoform skull. A Cybertronian was born armored with soft plating that hardened over the years on all but the head. A helm was the first thing a sparkling was given, to protect the fragile processor. “Why, slag you?! Why would you do this?! You haven’t been the same since that damn Autobot raped you!”

“That was over four million years ago, Megatron.” Starscream reminded him, his lipplates trembled. “And it changed much, but it was not that that brought this about, Megatron. It was not that.”

Megatron gripped the edge of the table so tightly that it cracked and bent under the force of his grip. “Then what was it, Starscream? Because it seems that that started everything wrong with you. It stopped you from loving me.” The last sentence was spoken with the bitter pain of a lover betrayed in every way. 

“No, Megatron.” Starscream murmured back. “It was not that that stopped me loving you.” There was a twinge of spark-deep guilt from across the bond and he returned a soothing pulse.

“You wouldn’t let me touch you. You wouldn’t come near me!” Megatron hissed. “Whatever happened to you, it was bad enough that you couldn’t stand to be with me anymore and at the same time not bad enough to stop you from wrapping your thighs around every two-bit soldier’s waist. I have a right to know what happened! I will know what happened!” A burst of offense from the Prime met the accusation. Starscream almost laughed.

Optics leaking coolant as memories forced their way to the surface- a thousand interfaces, none satisfying the hunger he had within and the one that had changed everything, permanently- Starscream began trembling as Optimus apologized again, a hundred thousand more to add when they fixed nothing and the Seeker no longer demanded them. “You want to know what happened? You want to know what HAPPENED?” 

“Yes! Tell me what happened!” Megatron leaned so close that Starscream could have leaned up and kissed him.

“YOU DID!” Starscream screamed in his face. “You abused me! You started going on a rampage of conquest that had nothing to do with our world! You lost your processor, Megatron! What was I supposed to do but stop you? It was what you would have done!” There was awe from Optimus, an admiration for his mate that lingered in the back of his spark brought to the forefront.

Megatron was momentarily stunned. “But the Autobots-“

“The Council and the Senate are dead, Megatron! We accomplished our goal! Optimus Prime is not Sentinel or Nonimus or Zeta! We’re free!” Starscream strained up in his bindings to look Megatron in the optics. “Or we would be, if you hadn’t started this insanity!”

Megatron brought his digits down onto Starscream’s wing and tore it open in a burst of agony. “You… You little…!”

“Go ahead! Abuse me, I can take it! Beat me, torture me, kill me! Prove me right!” Starscream bellowed back. “Prove to everyone that the Mighty Megatron can’t handle the truth!” In his spark, Optimus was sending frantic pulses, begging him to stop this insanity, to stop provoking Megatron. Remember the sparkling. Live for the sparkling. 

Megatron raised a fist high over Starscream’s unprotected head and exposed wiring and energon lines and the Seeker feared he had gone too far and that this would be the end for him and his sparkling… and perhaps Optimus as well. He shut the bond down again, shielding Optimus from what was about to happen, in spite of the convoy’s protest. 

The fist came down on the other wing and Starscream cried out as the thin limb bent nearly in half and strained to breaking. Megatron’s helm bowed and his shoulder kibble was shaking. Starscream kept the bond closed. This was not for Optimus’s optics: It was between him and the mech he had once wanted to spend eternity with. 

Megatron raised his burning optics to Starscream’s red-gold ones. After a long moment, he turned away and left the room, the lights dimming to black as he did. For a few, long moments, the world was still as Starscream came down off his adrenal high.

Starscream relaxed carefully and sent a tired pulse of love and apology to his agitated sparklet before opening the bond again. Optimus was silent for a long time, his relief and fear filling his side of it. Starscream sent a pulse of comfort and trust to him, a pulse that Optimus returned with reassurance. He was on his way. He would be there for the Seeker.

Starscream let his optics dim and enjoyed the sensations of battle through his mate’s optics: Strength and power coursing through his bonded. He loved it, loved the repressed rage taking form, loved how Optimus controlled himself, even when the enemy didn’t deserve his mercy. It was a real rush to feel how he went to work on the Decepticons diverted to his location. 

Of course, he couldn’t just lie there and wait for his beloved. He activated his retractable claws and went to work on the locks. They were magnetic, but if he could send alternating pulses of electricity through his claws and into the locks, they might just…

Nebulos! Starscream sat up as the wrist restraints opened and bent over, picking the locks on his ankles the same way. When he began moving, the lights came back on. Motion detectors attached to them probably. Designed not to pay attention to the mech laid out on the table. Reaching out, he secured his helm back on over the dent. With great care, he approached the door, scanning on all frequencies and in all light spectrums. Nothing. No grandiose death traps, not even a laser alarm system. His optics flicked to a panel beside the door. It wasn’t activated. The Black Room was off. The Seeker almost laughed in relief and opened the door. No guards. If Megatron hadn’t been so upset when he left, he would have assigned them to the doorway. As it stood, Starscream was free. He really did laugh then, and sent out a pulse to Optimus, letting him know he was out and asking for further instruction. 

Optimus sent him back a snip of memory. “Bumblebee, Jazz, you will find our Informant in the Black Room. He will give you a passcode, so that you know it’s him: “By my wings, you shall know me.” You will likely be surprised by our Informant’s identity, so work with extreme caution.” Bumblebee and Jazz nodded and rolled out, away from the rest of the convoy.

Starscream sent back a clip of himself saying sarcastically, “…Tosca, Pax? I didn’t know Autobots were taught to read.” It was an old memory, when they were getting to know each other and Orion had been getting an inkling of how important tradition was to his Seeker mate.

Optimus sent back a pulse of amusement and concern. Starscream gave him a clinicized list of his injuries, still separating the pain from their bond. Optimus urged him to hurry and find Jazz and Bumblebee so that he could be safely brought out of the Decepticon base and to the Hatchet’s tender care.

Starscream nodded and continued, ankle not quite bending right. It hurt to walk. It would hurt worse to fly. He had his null rays charged up and waiting as he walked down into the underlevels. This was where the two spy-bots would be on their way to the Black Room. His folded wing ached with every step as it jostled even as Starscream did his utmost to keep it still. Finally, he caught the sound of pedesteps. Sinking down onto the floor, he called out softly. “Jazz? Bumblebee?”

There was a hitch of vents- from the younger yellow mech most likely- at being addressed by their designations.

Jazz had no such compunctions. He was at Starscream’s side in a whisper, a blade at his neck. “There’s something I need you to tell me.”

Starscream let air hiss between his dentae. “By my wings, you shall know me.” The line had been a repetitive in Tosca’s fourth sonnet to his love- Seemew- in the Opera. The sonnet was set to a beautiful Aria and it had been Starscream’s favorite. It was the laziest of the ten sonnets in the Opera, with every line dogged by the need to end in the hard e sound and it was especially bad when translated from Seeker, but it was beautiful in song.

Jazz removed the dagger. “You. All this time. You. I never would have imagined.”

“That makes two of us.” Starscream agreed and stood, shakily. “Let’s get out of here.”

Bumblebee was gaping at Starscream as Jazz took his arm, helping him along. Optimus’s end of the bond filled with relief and love even as he continued to rip and tear through the Decepticons. Megatron soon joined the battle and threw himself into them with a roar, rallying his troops.

Jazz sent Optimus a comm tweet as soon as they were at a safe distance from the base, where Optimus’s trailer waited. Starscream laid down in it and let his processor spin from what was sure to be a concussion. Damn Megatron and his unpredictable temper.

The bond flared with life as the Autobots retreated, converging on his and the spy team’s location. Optimus’s presence against his spark was more than enough to kill the pain that had been plaguing him. The semi didn’t stop to look physically into his trailer, but he did buoy Starscream up on his own high as he summoned it to him. 

With that, the Autobots were in full flight back to the Ark and Starscream was officially out of it. Definitely concussed.


	10. 4 Million Years Before: Pursuit

The Seekers celebrated quietly as the Senate announced its emergency session. Mission Part A successful. On to Mission Part B. 

Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker were going to invade the Senate building with the remaining canisters of explosive energon. They would position them below the actual building in the sewers and facility. Then, when the time was right- a few cycles from the moment, they would detonate. Bye, bye, Senate.

There was a problem.

“It’s that cop, Orion Pax. He doesn’t have his partner, though.” Thundercracker reported from his bird’s eye view.

“Slag.” Starscream replied. “If he catches sight of what we’re up to, it’s all up. We’ve done far too much work to let that happen.”

Skywarp glanced at the convoy. “I could warp next to him, warp away, and knock him out.”

“No, too much risk.” Starscream nibbled his lipplate. “I’m going to let him see me, see if I can draw him into pursuit.”

“How is that less risk?” Thundercracker snapped. 

“Sorry, TC, already doing it.” Starscream stepped carefully into the light.

Thundercracker cursed, but he would do his job.

 

Orion Pax caught sight of a black-painted Seeker in an alley. Almost as soon as he had seen it, the flyer ducked away, but not before he spotted purple sigils. Ah, there you are. 

The cop began pursuit immediately. If Prowl were there, he would have called for back-up. Orion Pax, though, was confident he could take one little Seeker on his own. 

Further, if he was going to get as much information as possible from the Seeker, he might have to be alone for a bit with it. After the attack on Police Headquarters- even if it was mostly empty- he was beginning to feel desperate. He pursued the Seeker on foot, keeping the black figure barely in sight. The fragger was fast. 

Orion caught sight of a stair coming up and had a genuine Prowl moment.


	11. The Truth Will Out

Optimus carried the Seeker Commander into the medbay, past his stunned and incredulous soldiers and Starscream found himself giggling loopily. The Prime’s optics turned down to his mate in concern. Starscream caught the look and it made him laugh harder. His spinal strut seemed to slowly relax of its own accord and he found himself hanging upside down from Optimus’s grip, his hyper flexible frame allowing him to see the world from a different angle. This just made the loopy laughter spilling out of his vocalizer worse and by the time Optimus had brought him to the medbay, he was hysterical.

Ratchet took one look, said, “Concussion,” and went to work. The medic was excellent as his servos flew over Starscream’s frame, stabilizing him and repairing, stopping the pain. He reached out a servo, flexing it, towards his mate and, to his surprise, Optimus actually took it between his own and squeezed, feeling Starscream squeeze back.

Ratchet noticed and raised an optical ridge, but Starscream found that he didn’t care. It all had to come out eventually. Well, the less damaging details at least. They needed to formulate a story for how they ended up bonded, but that would be fine. Autobots were romantics, spin a good enough story of expected abuse and unexpected care, make Megatron the central victim, mention how Starscream had always kicked against being dragged into the galactic war, and they would be eating out of his servo soon enough. He supposed it would be simple enough to make up a narrative. It would require collaboration between himself and Optimus, of course, which would require privacy.

Optimus stoked his servo, sending him soothing and loving pulses of his spark. Starscream reveled in them freely, allowing himself to consider deeply how much love had grown between them since the bond. He couldn’t imagine life without the Prime and now with their sparkling on the way…

Speaking of the sparkling, Starscream knew the moment Ratchet discovered it. The medic practically recoiled and had to check three times before he believed it. Looking down at the Seeker, he told him, “I don’t imagine I have to tell you this, but you’re with spark.”

Starscream’s smile, already soft, turned thoroughly sentimental. “I know.”

Ratchet’s optics followed Starscream’s arm to Optimus’s servos still clasped around his. The medic put two and two together, came out with five, and nodded. “Right. It looks like it will stay. Has a few decacycles on it already from the size.”

“Good.” Starscream relaxed back into the berth. “It isn’t damaged, is it?”

“Not at all. It should descend to the tank soon. It’s very large and bright: Twins, maybe triplets depending on how it splits.” Ratchet let him close up his spark chamber and cockpit and stepped back. “Give yourself a rest and some time to heal and you’ll be right as rain, as the humans like to say.”

“Thank you, Ratchet.” Starscream smiled and let his optics shutter. Optimus patted his servo and sent him an encouraging pulse of his spark, soothing him to recharge. 

 

Optimus stood up as Starscream fell into recharge and gently placed Starscream’s hand on his cockpit. Loathe as he was to leave his mate, he knew that Ratchet would want explanations and quickly.

Ratchet was oddly calm as they stepped into his office and the door shut behind them. “We went on a rescue mission to bring back an informant, Optimus, and you come back with that.” He sat down behind his desk. “This is going to be one Pit of a story.”

Optimus sighed and sat down in a chair. “He is our Informant, Ratchet. He’s been passing information ever since the war moved off-world.”

“I believe you, Optimus, but it begs questions. Why haven’t we won this war already, if you have been this familiar with the Decepticon second in command? Familiar enough to conceive a sparkling.” Ratchet leaned on the desk, his gaze intense.

“Starscream has shared every activity of the Decepticon’s, Ratchet. I have chosen not to act on most of it to allay Megatron’s suspicions and because a great deal is not useful to us, but I have received it all.” Optimus crossed his arms. “I trust him implicitly, and our personal relationship- while I wouldn’t call it independent of his role- does not effect it.”

Ratchet nodded. “Prime, I trust you, but I have to say- this is a difficult situation. Ironhide, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe at the least will never trust a Seeker among our ranks. I’m ashamed to say that I have no love for them myself. Only one took our side, Prime, and Prowl assigned Pharma to a backwater to keep him out of the way.”

“Pharma is Starscream’s aeriemate.” Optimus set his dentae. “The Seekers joined with Megatron because they do not trust the Autobots. They… They have good reason to. Reason that has not been improved by our attitudes.”

Ratchet sat back in his chair. “You’re going to publicly claim Starscream as your mate. Try and use him to help get the Seekers on our side. Prove that we’re not the Senate and the Council.”

“I will not use him, Ratchet.” Optimus frowned. “I will claim his as my mate and give him leave to observe any ceremonies he deems appropriate because I love him. Whether it draws Seekers to us is irrelevant to the action.”

“If you’re going to observe any sort of ceremony, you might want to order Prowl to recall Pharma. ‘Aeriemate’ means close family. Having two Seekers, Prime, is better than one alone. Would be even better if there was a third: Three is a magic number in Vosnian culture.” Ratchet mused. 

Optimus nodded. “Starscream… has always been acutely aware that, in siding with us, he may be giving up what little remains of his culture.” Indeed, it was never far from his bonded’s mind that he might become an outcast because of his choice… and what he had not chosen.

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to paint me a sad picture, Optimus. I get it, and I’ll do whatever I can to help. Not for his sake, but for yours.” Ratchet waved it off. “Now go sit beside your mate. I know you want to.”

Optimus nodded and stood up at once, going to Starscream’s bedside and sitting down, taking up the relaxed servo hanging down from the Seeker’s side and getting comfortable for a long wait. He had much to speak about to his mate. For all of their time together, they had never given thought to an acceptable story to explain how they had come together, been bonded to each other. Something in Optimus longed to tell the truth, if not to everyone, then to a select few. Something else told him that it would not be well received and that Starscream would never want to see the full tale told. But burying it would do no one good. Perhaps a sanitized version, starting from when their relationship was loving, not before. Make it seem like the bond was a decision made by two individuals, deeply in love.

It would appeal better to his men that way. Perhaps Starscream himself would like it remembered that way. 

But it was not the truth. It was not real. 

Optimus had learned much over the vorns, but the hardest lesson of all was simply that the truth would out given time.


	12. 4 Million Years Before: This is the One You'll Hate Me For

Starscream looked back over his shoulder to find he had lost the hot-shot. He sighed deeply and stopped moving. Running was exhausting. These legs were meant to leap and climb and kick, not pound Cybertron, but he had had to bait out Orion Pax as long as possible before he was inevitably lost in the alleys.

He rested against a wall for a moment, listening and teeking for anything out of the normal. As a result, he had a moment of confusion before a convoy fell on top of him from the fire escape a few floors above. Cursing, he struggled with Orion. He must have underestimated the hot-shot. He had been out-maneuvered.

“What’s the next target?” Orion bellowed at him. Starscream was wriggling out of the convoy’s partial wing-lock. If he could just get on his pedes…

Orion did half his work for him, he flipped the Seeker over, grabbing his arms at the elbow. Starscream pulled his legs in and aimed a hammer kick into the convoy’s grill. Pax hung on. The mech was determined, Starscream would give him that. He would not, however, give him the wing that he gripped. That hurt, thank you, let go.

Starscream hissed and bit down on Orion’s shoulder kibble, tearing several cables away. Pax took his arm away from the wing and punched the Seeker in the nasal vent and dentea. Starscream felt energon running down his faceplates.

Starscream brought his claws to bear. He had to get away from the convoy. If he could get away, he could take to the air. He had to get out of Orion’s grasp.

Orion set his knees on Starscream’s and sat up slightly. He brought his two servos together into a single fist and smashed down into the Seeker’s cockpit. “Who is working with you?”

“As if I would tell you anything.” Starscream spat in his faceplates.

Orion slapped a servo down onto the Seeker’s wing and tore into it. Starscream yowled, bucked and kicked out. “What is the next target? When is it being hit?”

Starscream hissed, checking his internal chronometer. A cycle left. If he could keep Orion here for just a bit longer, Skywarp and Thundercracker would be free to come to his aid.

The Seeker made a fluid motion with his wings, distracting the convoy, and kicked him in the groin. Orion’s grip loosened just enough for him to scramble away. It was then that he noticed the bright sparklight pouring out of his cockpit. Orion had exposed his sparkchamber. That was all kinds of disturbing.

Starscream made for the end of the alley, hoping to take off, but a massive blow to his back directly below his wings stopped him. Orion wrestled him back down, an insane light in his optics. “You almost killed my partner, you glitch. Where’s the next target?” He punched Starscream in the cockpit again, the beam of light growing brighter as the metal bent and wavered. 

Starscream howled, but refused to tell him anything. If this was where he died, he was glad Megatron had refused to bond to him earlier. Who knew? The tank former was correct. 

 

Orion Pax was hovering on the edge of sanity. The Seeker’s resistance wore on him. The knowledge that Prowl was hovering on a hospital berth wore on him. Everything about the situation wore on him.

As he tore open the Seeker’s chest, he reflected that a spark merge would reveal all of the Seeker’s memories to him. For him it was the next, logical step. 

Not taking into account the dangers- the risk of processor overload, the likelihood that initiating a deep spark merge would result in a permanent spark bond, and even the likelihood that one spark would eclipse the other’s snuffing it- he allowed his own windshield to crack open.

The Seeker beneath him froze, then struggled wildly. Orion grabbed his servos and pressed them to the ground over his head. Their sparks met and Orion felt the Seeker’s panic, the sudden rush of thought and emotion across his own, determined probes.

Starscream- the Seeker’s name was Starscream- was out of his mind with fear and anger: “DON’TWANTTHISDON’TWANTTHISGETOUTOFMYSPARKDON’TWANTTHISPRIMUSDAMNRAPISTGETOUTOFMYTHOUGHTS!”

Orion focused on his determination to stop the terrorism that plagued his city and pushed deeper, finding memories and plans below them- Megatron and everything these two meant to each other.

Starscream shrieked and barricaded off those memories as Orion continued his burning path. At some point, their panels unlatched and his spike pressurized into the Seeker’s dry, hard valve. He was dimly aware that he had forcibly opened the panel, but he wasn’t focusing on his frame.

Starscream howled, shifting beneath his tormentor, trying to break away. His frame drained his tank through some outdated fight or flight instinct and the slick, oily fluid coated his thighs unpleasantly. “I don’t want this!” He screamed into Orion’s audials. Orion gripped him by the vocalizer, crushing it. His voice was so… so… annoying! It was high and whiny, edging into grating from the distress of the situation. How could Megatron stand it?

Starscream bellowed, locking down as many memories as he could. He had never spark merged before, but he was a quick and imaginative learner. He rushed about, slamming doors in Orion’s face, but his recent memories weren’t the priority to protect and it was those Orion was most interested in. He finally found the memories he wanted: Loading canisters of Nucleon and Energon into a sewer entrance, taking them towards the Senate Building- The Senate!

Everything fell into place. Orion tore himself out of the spark merge and the Seeker’s valve at once. Starscream gave an unearthly cry as agony split through him at the sudden separation. The convoy ran in the opposite direction, heading for the Senate Building again, rushing as fast as he could. He had a quarter of a cycle to get there. Fourteen klicks. Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two-

Starscream had miscalculated or Skywarp and Thundercracker had jumped the gun. The Senate went up in a tower of smoke and fire that lit the city. The Decepticons made their statement. They were not to be trifled with. 

Orion stared in horror as the smoke began to clear. There was nothing left of the once-proud tower.


	13. Kaon and Pharma

Six months before Starscream discovered his sparkling, Pharma, blindfolded, whimpered in the darkness of the Peaceful Tyranny. The Seeker had been taken from Messatine long before, to work as the medic for the DJD. Behind him, a dead, burned medical center. Before him, a dead, burned future. He was chained and fixed to a restraint chair, a gag in his mouth. It was better than the hood that Kaon had been offered by Tarn. It sat, an evil device, somewhere in the room with Pharma. The mere thought of it had been enough to convince him to bear the chair with stoicism.

“Hush.” Kaon murmured to him. The blind mech was monitoring frequencies, hunting traitors. “I would unbind you if I were allowed. As soon as I finish here, I can unlock you.”

Pharma bit the gag in his intake and mused that he and his Decepticon aeriemate’s destinies had always seemed entwined and mirrored. They had both gone to Iacon to pursue their education. Together, they had struggled to survive a world that hated them for wanting more. They had both been wrapped up in politics. Both had been harmed by the Functionist’s agenda. The war had separated them, at first merely to different sectors of Cybertron. Then, it had tossed them a galaxy apart. 

Now, it seemed that they shared the same fate once more. Violated by their enemies, forced into bonds neither desired, torn from the mechs that they loved. Pharma’s own had been murdered before his optics. Sweet First Aid. He would never see the nurse again. Like Messatine, like Delphi, he was burned and dead. 

Kaon’s spark was soft against his. Soft and faint, thank Primus for small blessings. Such a twist in the end. He had thought Tarn would tie his spark to the Seeker medic’s, but no. The leader of the DJD had decided that Pharma needed to be humbled and had assigned him to his second- Kaon, or as Pharma had learned, Amp. It could have been worse. Helex, the brute, and Tesaurus had been eyeing him. Vos seemed to chatter to himself constantly and Pharma, while he read the Primal Vernacular, did not speak it. Of a bad lot, blind Kaon was the best bet, though Tarn would have been his choice, if only because he intimidated the rest of the DJD in ways that even the vicious electricity-wielding mech didn’t.

Kaon’s pet sparkeater pushed its head into Pharma and licked his thighs where they had been bruised and energon had spilled from behind his modesty plate. Kaon had not been particularly cruel- though that could change any time- but Pharma had been unwilling in the extreme and his frame had not responded to the brutalization it had undergone. The turbofox whined and nuzzled the Seeker. Perhaps it wished to comfort the medic, but the Seeker’s wings were trembling as it touched him.

“The Pet will not hurt you.” Kaon told Pharma, his voice suddenly very close. For a blind mech, he moved like a shadow. “You belong here now.” His servo touched the new, purple insignia on Pharma’s chest. Tarn had branded him.

Pharma’s venting picked up a little and he went as still as he could. Kaon slowly loosened his binds and let him up. “You have no reason to fear me, Pharma. This was neither of our choice, but we may as well make the best of it.”

“No reason-“ Pharma hissed as soon as the gag was out. “You used me horribly!”

“I have to maintain an image in front of my commander and our subordinates.” Kaon released the mech from the rest of the restraints and the Seeker curled in on himself. “In this room, you will not be harmed.”

Pharma’s optics fell on the rubber hood nearby, the feeding slit that would not let sound or light through, and he shuddered harder. Sensing his new mate’s distress, Kaon picked it up and put it away. “If it frightens you so, I will not use it.”

A Seeker hood had been a Functionist torture tool that supposedly pacified Seekers by “silencing them and causing them to recharge without stimulus from their surroundings.” In reality, the hoods muffled the frightened cries of flyers made blind and deaf by the thick, insulating rubber. While in Medical School, several Praxians had ambushed himself and Starscream after classes and forced them into them. They had stumbled about, crying out, blind and deaf to their surroundings until they figured out how to get them off. It had been frightening, disorienting, and Pharma never wanted to go through it again. 

Kaon’s spark reached out to Pharma’s, attempting to taste the memory that caused the medic such distress. Pharma shut it down immediately and shook his head as hard as he could, denying the bond, denying the circumstance. 

Kaon petted the Seeker’s wings and soothed him. Pharma was only a Seeker. He was not a fighter like Starscream and didn’t have the fortitude to resist against someone who treated him with even partial kindness after all he had been through that decacycle. He curled into Kaon and cried.


	14. 4 Million Years Before: Pharma's Home

Starscream raised himself off the ground on trembling limbs. With ginger servos, he covered his gaping spark with emergency mesh. It barely blocked the sparklight from pouring through. There was no way he could fly. 

Thundercracker pinged him. Starscream raised two digits to his comm. “Starscream here.”

“The explosives just went off. Casualties: One hundred percent.”

“Good job.” Starscream pulled himself up from the ground and winced, hissing. “I got away from Orion.” Oh, Primus, he couldn’t let his trinemates see him like this! “I’m a little hurt, but my aeriemate- Pharma- has an apartment near here. I’m going to him. You guys go back to Tarn and report in. Take the rest of the artifacts.”

“But Star, we don’t leave anyone behind.” Skywarp protested. “Let me warp you and we’ll fly together.”

“That’s an order, Skywarp, you go back to Tarn without me.” Starscream sighed. “I’ll catch up. Maybe even beat you if I don’t have to stop so much for your fragging breaks.” He allowed himself to tease his trinemate.

“Hey, frag you, Screamer. You’re the one who spends so long getting back into the air.”

Starscream chuckled. “Seriously, get out of here. I’ll be fine. I just need some medical attention before I come home. We wouldn’t want Big Gun worried, would we?”

The other two Seeker’s laughed. “Oh, we know exactly how ‘worried’ you want Big Spike. Oops, wrong code word.”

Thundercracker sighed. “All right, Star. If you’re sure. But comm us and we’ll be right back if you need help.”

“No, it’s no problem. I just need rest and to be patched up. I’ll be fine.” Starscream made light of it. “Fly well.”

“Fly well, trineleader.” The line cut and Starscream allowed himself to wince and hiss as he closed his modesty plate. He looked at the Deception Sigils on his wings and shook his helm. He wouldn’t make it to Pharma’s home without covering those.

Taking a canister of paint out of his subspace, he painted over each one. He was a pure black Seeker now. Hopefully, he would look non-threatening enough to go unmolested.

Starscream limped out of the alley and got his bearings. He was close to Pharma’s home. He sent a ping to the medic’s comm. “Pharma, it’s me, Starscream. I’ve been… I’ve been assaulted and I’m close to your location. I need your help.”

There was a moment’s pause and Pharma answered. “Starscream? It’s been so long since I heard from you. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.”

Starscream nodded, looking around. “I’m outside a bar of some sort. Maccadams.”

“Oh, my favorite spot! You’re right around the corner, just hang tight and I’ll come and get you.” Pharma disconnected.

Starscream sank back into a wall. He was in pitiful condition. Pharma was in for a shock. He kept himself upright, barely, and glared at passersby. His processor was still locked in damage-control, looking for ways to distract himself from the horror of what had just happened. 

His tri-colored aeriemate came around the corner and spotted him at once. “Starscream?” He gasped, both servos going to his intake. “Oh, Starscream! You weren’t kidding!”

Starscream smirked at the medic’s horror. “Just… Just help me get to a berth, Pharma.”

Pharma gripped him about the wings and they began the slow journey to the medic’s apartment. Pharma helped him into his own berth before he began to take stock.

“Oh, Primus, Starscream.” Pharma murmured. His gentle fingers were a massive change from Orion’s punches and pummeling. “You need so much work… There’s so much damage…”

“Can you patch me up so I can fly back to Tarn?” Starscream questioned.

“Patch you up…” Pharma shook his helm. “There are some things you can go without- a replacement cockpit, some plating- but you can’t fly on the rest of this damage. If you try to, you could rip your valve open or your spark could fall out. You could snuff and fall without even hitting the ground.”

Starscream was silent. “Oh. I see. What are we talking about then?”

“A few decacycles at least, Star!” Pharma pulled out the medical tools he had on hand and loaded a syringe. “I don’t think you can even be transported out in this condition.” 

Starscream groaned. “Then what do we do?”

“You’re my aeriemate. You came for the Festival recently and were assaulted. You’re staying with me until you recover.” Pharma evenly replied. “It’s close enough to the truth, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Starscream closed his optics. “Okay, work your magic, doctor.”

Pharma gave him the medicine. “Starscream? Will you tell me what happened?”

Starscream’s servos clutched the berth. Pharma took one and caressed it. “It was just some hot-shot cop. No one you need to worry about.”

“What did he do?” 

“He forced himself on me because I wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know.” Starscream replied dully. “It hurt like Pit, but I think I held him off pretty well.”

“He… Forced his Spark on you?”

Pricks of coolant appeared at each optic. “Yes.” Fortunately for Starscream, the sedative took effect soon after and he was spared whatever Pharma said next.


	15. Prayers For Continued Health and Safety

Starscream woke, refreshed and healed, with Optimus still at his berthside. The Seeker sighed and stretched carefully. The Prime had leaned against his berth and his helm was laying partially on the Seeker’s hip. Starscream reached out and touched his facemask, stroking it. He looked around, nasal vent wrinkling. This was to be home. He would have to get it a better paint job. Something less noxious than orange. Maybe blue… soothing, soft blue.

Optimus lifted his helm and blinked his sapphire optics. “Starscream?”

“Good morning.” Starscream greeted his mate. “Did you sleep well?”

“Well enough. You were here.” Optimus straightened up and stretched a crick out of his neck. “I’m just glad you’re alive and well.” 

Starscream smiled. “I can say the same.” 

Optimus took the Seeker’s servo and kissed the delicate knuckles. “You’re home now. You’re safe. I couldn’t be happier.”

“What do your men think of me being here?”

Optimus sighed and shook his helm. “You know Prowl and Ironhide, but they’ll come around. The twins might be a problem as well.” 

“Do they want to put me in the brig?” Starscream questioned. 

Optimus was silent.

“Perhaps it would be best- no, hear me out- perhaps it would be best if I were confined to the brig for some time, to allow you to explain the situation and bring your worst ones around.”

“The brig is no place for a carrying mech.” Optimus frowned. 

“Neither is a base filled with enemies.” Starscream pointed out, touching his cockpit above his sparkchamber. “And until they understand and accept the situation we are in, Optimus, that is what your men are.”

Optimus’s spark railed against the unfairness of it all. “You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve risked your life, time and again, to ensure that we continue to have the upper hand on the Decepticons. You deserve to be lauded, not imprisoned like a common criminal!”

It would never cease warming the Seeker’s spark when his mate spoke like that. “I know that, love, and you know that, but your men do not. If we do not give them time to adjust, perhaps they will never know that.”

Optimus hissed, an uncharacteristically angry sound. “It isn’t fair.” Starscream sent out a few pulses with his spark to his mate, love, calm, and reassurance. After a moment, Optimus responded with resigned understanding and love of his own. “I will be with you then. I refuse to live in my own quarters if you have to be consigned to a cell.”

Starscream smiled softly and sat up to hug the convoy mech. “Thank you.”

Optimus helped the Seeker to his pedes. “Come. I’ll call an Officer’s Meeting and explain the situation. Ratchet and Wheeljack will already know about the sparkling and I imagine they might have extrapolated the bond, but no one else should. Well, Prowl might suspect.”

“Of course.” Starscream nodded. “While we’re at it, how about some energon?”

“Indeed.” Optimus nodded. “I’ll have energon and mercury treats brought to the conference room.”

Starscream smiled wickedly. “Ratchet says that our sparkling will soon descend into my gestation pod.” Starscream murmured. “I may need you to start donating nanites for their frames soon.”

Optimus’s engine revved slightly. “Oh, indeed?” He looked around. “Well, it is still early for that meeting. Perhaps it could wait for the afternoon after all.”

Starscream purred. “Now you’re talking.”

It was early enough that there were few mechs wandering around the officer’s quarters. The few that were up saw Optimus escorting the Seeker, whom they had been informed was their informant, to his quarters. They couldn’t see the back and forth of eagerness and desire playing out in their sparks. It was probably a good thing they couldn’t as well. It was odd enough to see them walking arm in arm to Optimus’s quarters, if the men could see the memories they were trading, they might never recover.

As soon as the door slid shut behind them, Optimus pressed Starscream against it, jabbing the lock. “I’ve been waiting for this for too long.” He ran his large servos along Starscream’s sides and to his slender hips.

“Me too.” Starscream breathed into the convoy’s audial. “Optimus… much as I love it when you make love to me, I need this far too much to wait.”

Optimus’s optics lit up with mischief as his faceplates dropped to Starscream’s neckcables and he began nibbling. “I think this would be a good time to see how fast I can make you overload, hmm? Take the edge off?”

Starscream gasped as thick, blunt servos traced his vent fans and cockpit. “Oh! You rogue, you never change!” 

“Perhaps not, but I learn new tricks.” Optimus grinned salaciously. “So, do you want me to thank Primus for your continued health and safety against your valve or your vents?”

Starscream whimpered at the idea and his servos squeezed Optimus’s shoulder kibble. An image of Starscream looking down over his cockpit at Optimus kneeling between his legs appeared in Starscream’s spark and Optimus chuckled. “Well, well… I should have known.” He slid down fluidly, pressing a kiss to the left vent as he went. “You two will get your turn.” Starscream whined sharply at the promise and his legs spread a little wider.

Optimus stroked Starscream’s hot panel and pressed a kiss to it. “Open for me?”

“For you? Hmm…” Starscream gasped and moaned as Optimus dragged his glossa up the length of the panel and it sprang open, revealing his soft and wet valve, lubricant beading at its edges. Optimus spread the plush lips, revealing the opening and the hardened anterior nobe above it. Starscream gasped and his servos went to the Primes aerials. 

“Beautiful.” Optimus murmured and pressed his lips to the valve in an almost-chaste kiss before licking out with his glossa and lighting up the edge of the valve in pleasure. 

Starscream was so sensitive, all over. He was such a good lover- so responsive and ready for every touch, every lick of his glossa. When Optimus was in a teasing mood, he could make the flyer overload without ever touching his valve. Reminding Starscream of this fact, he pressed a memory through their bond and the Seeker whined, grinding down onto Optimus. The convoy took hold of Starscream’s thighs- the Seeker whimpering when the servos nearly fit around the whole of the white expanse- and held him in place as he did his work.

Starscream whined and tried to convulse in overload, but Optimus held him in place and pressed a final kiss to the pleasure node, beginning his mate’s charge for the next one. Standing, he stroked Starscream’s faceplates, seeing his optics flicker in pleasure. “Better?”

“You… slagger.” Starscream pressed a kiss to his lipplates, heedless of his own lubricants slicking the convoy’s face. “Take me to your berth and remind me whose I am.” He growled.

Optimus’s engine revved and he lifted Starscream off of the ground by his firm thighs, the Seeker locking his ankles about the convoy. “Of course, my mate, whatever you will.”

Starscream pressed another kiss to his lipplates and the Prime carried him off with care.


	16. 4 Million Years Ago: Two Medics

Starscream woke to find Pharma gone. The ache between his legs had intensified and his spark was twitching with little twinges. It gave him a chance to take stock of the situation… and to grieve.

He had lost two virginities to Orion Pax: His seals and his spark. He cursed the name of the cop and nodded to himself when he settled on a plan for how the Seeker was going to deal with him. He would ask Megatron for him when they took Iacon, then slowly torture him to death. It would seem a strange request to the warlord, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

And Starscream would never tell him about this. It was- Just no. No, he couldn’t. Pharma was one person. Lord Megatron was another. This would be his burden to bear alone, even when he bonded to him. He could hide the memory. He had already hidden memories during that other spark share. He could do it again. The tank-former would accept any explanation he gave for the missing seal. There would be a reckoning for it though, when he got his talons into Orion Pax’s seams. The supposed Hero Cop. Phah!

Deep in his spark, Starscream wondered if he would ever be satisfied for what he had lost. Coolant pricked in his optics and began to trickle down his faceplates. No, there was no satisfaction. Not for him.

 

Orion stood beside Prowl as the two officers took stock. The Council, without the Senate, had taken control along with the Prime. Not all was lost. 

“Well, this was a flop.” Orion threw his cube into the recycler with unerring accuracy.

“Indeed.” Prowl agreed. “Perhaps you could tell me about what went down while I was out.”

“I got hold of one of the Seekers and made him tell me what he knew, but it was too little too late. Fragging Seeker.” Orion explained shortly.

“Orion, did you go nuclear again?” Prowl lightly stepped around the subject. Orion Pax’s bad temper was as well known as his face mask.

“Maybe I did, so what? Terrorists and scum don’t deserve to be treated like mechs.”

Prowl frowned. “There are rules for a reason, Pax. You need to remember that.”

Orion waved it off. His spark had been prickling on and off all cycle. “Right. I’m going to see Ratchet. I need a check-up.”

“All right, take care, Pax, and don’t let it get to you. We can’t solve all of them.”

“Oh, I solved it. Just not fast enough.” Orion replied and went to see his friend.

 

Ratchet and Pharma worked together in the same facility. They were friends, Ratchet had helped Pharma cut through red tape many a time.

“Thanks for letting me take this home, Ratchet.” Pharma took the box with the medical supplies he needed to put his aeriemate back together in his servos.

“Don’t mention it, Pharma. It’s no problem.” Ratchet waved the thanks off. “I hope your aeriemate gets better. Some mechs are just animals.”

“Yeah, animals.” Pharma sighed. “See you tomorrow, Ratch.”

Orion Pax came in through the door just as Pharma was going out. The timid medic shrank from the Hero Cop and squirted out the door as fast as possible. Orion watched him go. Normally, Pharma was the exception to his dislike for Seekers. “That was weird. What has Pharma in a tizzy?”

Ratchet sighed and folded his arms. “He has an aeriemate who came to visit him for the festival. He was assaulted in an alley and Pharma is taking care of him until he can go home.”

“Was it reported to the police?” Orion questioned.

“I don’t know. Probably not. You know how Pharma is about police officers. You were the exception.” Ratchet sighed. “What do you need, Pax?”

“I was hoping to talk to you about some twinges I’ve been feeling in my spark.” Orion answered. The two mechs headed for Ratchet’s office.

 

Pharma made it home unharrassed. He nodded to his landmech and went up to his apartment with his box of supplies. Starscream was lying where he had been left, but he had emptied the contents of his subspace onto the table beside the berth. Pharma surveyed the mess of random objects and his optics lit on a blaster- heavy weight with several power packs. He shuddered and opened the drawer, swiping the objects into it. “Hi, Starscream.”

Starscream looked up at him. “Hey.”

“How do you feel?” Pharma began unpacking the box. It included a welder, salve, and more painkillers. 

“Not great.” Starscream rubbed his cockpit. “I’m feeling twinges in my spark.”

“It might be an after-effect of the forced merge.” Pharma began laying tools out. “You stayed on your wings while I was out, right?”

“I did. It was torture, but I did.” Starscream gestured to the table. “Just doing a little housecleaning. I have some credits and shanix. Take them. It’s less than what I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Pharma reassured him. “I’m not hurting for credits.” He laid out the dent popper and a sander. “I just want you to get better.”

“Thanks, Pharma.” Starscream laid his helm back. “But take it anyway.”

“All right.” Pharma would give his aeriemate his pride. “So, what are you in Iacon for really?”

“You must have seen it on the news. We were rattling doors, trying to draw out the Senate. We recovered a lot of artifacts as well.” Starscream shuttered his optics as Pharma injected him with more painkillers and began unwrapping the temporary mesh. 

“Vosnian?” Pharma questioned, reaching for the dent popper and beginning to bring the sheets of metal back together over the exposed spark. “You’re going to need a lot more work than I can do here. If you won’t come into the hospital, you need to see your Decepticon medic.”

“It’s okay. Just get me running again and I’ll be out of your wiring.” Starscream replied. “Yeah, we found a lot of art, some old books. Things that should be in museums, not homes.”

“Well, they will be again now, right?” Pharma questioned.

“Of course. Don’t worry. They’ve been secured in vaults. They’ll be safe.” Starscream lifted his helm to watch the medic stretching his chest plating back together. 

Pharma finished with the chest plating late in the evening. “I have to do some work on your valve now.” He told the Seeker. “I need you to open your modesty panel and stay calm. I’ll talk you through it so nothing comes as a surprise, but you shouldn’t feel anything.”

“I don’t think I can open my modesty panel without physically opening it.” Starscream admitted. “It feels damaged.

Pharma examined the panel. It was true, the codpiece seemed to be dented and messed around at the edges. He recalled that in his initial examination, Starscream had opened and closed it manually. “All right. I’m going to open it now then.” He reached forwards and gently pushed it downwards. The bearings gave a screep on their track. They had been compacted. That was the first thing fixed. When he could open and close the panel without problems, he moved on. “All right. There are surface tears on your outer labia. I’m going to start welding them now. If you feel any pain, tell me.”

“Right. Go ahead, doc.” Starscream responded, pointedly not looking at Pharma and clutching the edges of the berth.

Pharma began closing the tears, cleaning out clogged energon and lubricant as he worked. Starscream had been ripped into dry, but his valve had begun excreting during the assault. It was biology, nothing more.

Starscream kept a tight hold on the berth, but didn’t seem to be in pain or distress otherwise.

“All right. I’m done with the surface damage.” Pharma lifted up a tool. “This is a speculum. It’s going to hold your valve open while I work, okay? Remember, if you feel any pain, tell me.”

“Get on with it, Pharma.” A sheen of coolant was covering Starscream’s protoform. 

Pharma nodded and worked as quickly and carefully as possible. When he finished, he put a layer of salve on everything, removed the speculum, and Starscream closed the panel effortlessly. “That’s all the surface damage. There are other things I can’t reach without surgery, but your self-repair should take care of it.”

Starscream sat up slowly. “That feels much better, thank you, Pharma.”

“Anything for family.” Pharma offered him a cube of energon. “Are you warm enough?”

Starscream shook his helm. “No, Iacon is cold.”

Pharma nodded. “I got used to it.”

Starscream sighed and leaned against the wall. “I’m tired. My spark is prickling again.”

“It should go away soon enough.” Pharma laid a comforting servo on his wing. “Just rest.”


	17. Board Meeting

The officers stared at the Prime for a long, long moment after the convoy finished speaking. Starscream shuttered his optics as he thought to himself, “Here it comes.” He put a servo on Optimus’s arm as Ironhide burst out. 

“Prime, you must be outta yer processor! What would possess you to take up with the Decepticon’s second in command?” 

“I do not have to justify my personal choice of mate to anyone, Ironhide, just as I do not ask you to justify yours.” Optimus reminded his commander. “It should matter more that he has been passing us vital information for millennia and acting as both an agent and spy within Megatron’s ranks.”

“Ah don’t believe it. How have we not won this bloody war if we have access to that kind of information?”

“I have not acted on a great deal of the information, both to keep Starscream’s position safe and because it has not been as useful as you would believe, Ironhide. While Megatron uses subterfuge and strategy, most of his movements are in the open and our own spies and intelligence pick up fairly easily. It doesn’t change the undeniable fact that the Decepticons have overwhelming force and air superiority on their side. Starscream can’t help that.” Optimus defended his mate soundly.

“Hang on. Cool down, Ironhide.” Jazz interrupted. “I hate to be that mech, but Prime, this is Starscream. He’s no innocent. He’s killed more of our mechs than I like to count, not to mention the assassination of the Senate and all the chaos he used to seed in the underlevels back on Cybertron.”

Starscream squeezed Optimus’s arm. “I take full responsibility for my actions against you and yours, but I must remind you that Megatron kept a keen eye on me and I had no choice but to act as a Decepticon would if I wished to keep my head.”

Jazz nodded, but Prowl spoke. “I still don’t see how we can trust you. I do not believe Optimus is mistaken, not in the identity of his own informer, but this… How do we know that this is not a ruse that Megatron has concocted in order to place a spy in our own ranks?”

Optimus’s spark clenched and Starscream sent a soothing pulse back to him. The Seeker nodded. “I understand. You have a right to be nervous.” His optics went to Red Alert, who was practically glitching. “I will not protest if you wish to put me under restrictions, even the brig. I would only remind you that, as a Seeker, I need to at least see the sky in order to remain stable.”

Prowl nodded. “I’m glad you’re being so reasonable about this, I would hate to use force.”

“Prowl, this is ridiculous. I can vouch for Starscream: His intentions are true and he will honor the rules of this Ark.” Optimus felt compelled to state.

“It’s all right, Optimus. We knew there would be difficulty.” Starscream reminded his mate. He turned back to the Praxian second. “Do you wish to take me there now?”

“That would set me best at ease.” Prowl replied coldly. “This way, Starscream.”

Optimus stood up as Starscream did, but the Seeker pushed on his shoulder, making him sit back down. “You can come and see me in a bit, Optimus. I’m sure there’s other business as well.”

Optimus helplessly reached out to his bonded. Starscream reassured him. He had shown the Autobots only half of his capability over the years. He could take care of himself. “Ensure he’s in a private cell, Prowl, and see to it that he’s given anything he desires- datapads or extra bedding. Whatever he asks for.”

Starscream nodded. “Thank you, Optimus.” 

Prowl’s nod was more of a jerk of his helm as he escorted the Seeker out. Optimus found his servos clenched into fists as his mate was led away. This was so unfair!

Ratchet brought the Prime back to the present. “He’ll be all right, Prime. Prowl can control himself.” The doctor tapped his servos on the tabletop. “I’m more worried about what will happen to our edge now that our informant is down and out.”

“Any chance of getting some of that ‘Air Superiority’ with ‘Screamer, Prime?” Jazz questioned.

Optimus nodded. “As soon as Starscream reaches his gestation term, he will want to return to the field. Perhaps some of his Seekers will join us as well, if they see that Starscream is treated well and not as a prisoner or a second class citizen.” The words were clearly pointed to Ironhide. 

The weapons specialist harrumphed. “Prime, this is crazy. Seekers have always been crazy fraggers and the only surviving ones are the craziest. Have you seen them fight? They have no concept of restraint in battle.”

“This from the mech who thinks the best way to solve any problem is by shooting it.” Ratchet pointed out.

Ironhide whirled on the medic like he had bitten the larger soldier. Ratchet shrugged. “We have a Seeker, Ironhide. He’s been passing information- risking his life- to help us. Don’t you think that merits at least some understanding?”

Optimus nodded. “Starscream’s aeriemate, which is a close cousin in Vosnian culture, is on the Autobot’s side. Pharma is his name, a medic. I will contact him and ask if he wishes to transfer here, to Earth. I think it would be good for the image and might help draw other Seekers to the Autobots.” 

“I’ll remind Prowler to look into it.” Jazz agreed, making a note.

“Thank you, Jazz. Anything else?” Of course, there was going to be. 

“Do we have any back-up plans now that our highest informant has been taken out of the ring?” Jazz questioned. “Are there listening devices or anything I should be aware of?”

“No, it would have been too dangerous for Starscream’s cover.” Optimus answered. “Megatron is not stupid and Soundwave watches all ongoings in the Decepticon base.”

“Mmm. Odd that he managed to get you so much information right under Soundwave’s nasal vent then. What kind of transmitter did he use?” Jazz questioned casually.

It was the question Optimus had been dreading. “I cannot say what method was used at the moment, Jazz. Are there any other questions?”

Jazz folded his arms and shook his head. Optimus felt his tanks churn as he realized that Jazz had probably put together their bond. Prowl would be discrete, though, there was nothing to worry about. He would be angry, of course, would see the bond as a reckless measure, further evidence that the Prime was acting outside of Autobot interests, but Optimus would talk him down. After all, their bond was pre-Primacy. The tactician would understand eventually.

The bond was calm. Starscream was contented by Prowl’s measures, the mech had provided him with literature to last for awhile and other comforts. Optimus could bring him some more books and a few of his favorite objects when he went to join his mate. He was serious: If Starscream had to be in a cell, so did he.

They stood together, or not at all.


	18. 4 Million Years Ago: Realization

About a decacycle into his stay with Pharma, Starscream was daydreaming. He was sitting in a board meeting with his partner, Prowl, and daydreaming about driving along the outside of Iacon. It was exhilarating to feel the ground beneath his tires, the dust kicking up behind him.

Prowl was saying something. He wasn’t paying enough attention, but he didn’t care. This was too boring for words. He would rather be driving.

Driving?

Starscream sat upright abruptly. He was a Seeker, he didn’t drive! He had never driven! Was he losing his mind?

There was a prick in his spark. He focused on it… and touched a mind that wasn’t his.

It was lucky that Pharma’s apartment was soundproofed because the wail Starscream let loose would have attracted attention for certain. After all that, this as well? If nothing else had proved it, this did. 

Primus hated him.

 

Orion stood up suddenly. “Excuse me.” It wasn’t the first time he had walked out of a meeting, it wouldn’t be the last. He rushed to the washracks and locked himself in, purging his tanks. That was no twinge in his spark. That was a genuine bonded’s sharing.

Bonded. And there was only one possible mech. 

No! It wasn’t true! It was a remnant of their merge, nothing more! He couldn’t be bonded to a… to a… 

Seeker. 

An emotional prima donna designed to pop out sparklings like a vending machine and to fight like a hellion without remorse or empathy. The last mech Orion would ever want to bond with was a Seeker. 

How had it happened anyway? They had had one merge and neither had intended to bond. He had just been looking for what was going to happen next and Starscream had been fighting him. Pit, the Seeker had his own love and wanted to be bonded to him as soon as possible.

Of course. Orion laughed at himself. It was impossible, therefore it wasn’t true. It hadn’t happened. All this was was a remnant of the Seeker’s spark on his. A lingering memory of another was common in merges. All he had to do was ignore it. It would go away.

 

Meanwhile, Starscream had come to a similar conclusion. He just had to ignore it. Ignore it… ignore the prickles… ignore the vague impressions… It was so simple… Just ignore it…

 

A few cycles later, Orion was reading the same page of his novel over and over again. Nothing was sinking in. He could feel the other spark against his, growing in intensity the more forcefully he tried to push it away. It was baseline emotions- anger and pain, fear, but that was more than the general impression he had had earlier.

 

Starscream and Pharma were working mechanically on a piece of Seeker craftsmanship: Lace knitting. Finished products- fabric and material- were valuable and expensive, but the threads used to make them weren’t. Pharma had always been fond of crafts to keep his digits limber. Starscream had learned just to keep his aeriemate quiet.

“Careful, Starscream.” Pharma warned. “You dropped a loop.” He slid the loops he was holding onto the claws of one servo and corrected the mistake. 

“Sorry.” Starscream kept going.

“It’s all right. You’re distracted, I can see that.” Pharma spread his loops between two servos again and kept knitting. “Mind telling me what it is?”

Starscream sniffled. Pharma looked up from his bead counting. “Now I know something is wrong.”

Starscream dropped his servos into his lap. Loops and beads went everywhere as he whimpered and wept. Pharma embraced him, heedless of the work they had been doing. “Oh, no… Shh… Shhh… You survived… It’s going to be okay… Shhh…”

Starscream clutched his aeriemate and wailed. “It’s not going to be okay! It’s not! He’s not going away! I can still feel him! He’s in my spark and in my processor and I can’t do this!”

“Trauma is normal for what you’ve gone through, Starscream.” Pharma stroked his spinal strut. “It’s perfectly normal to feel lingering presences that resemble your attacker, but it’s all in your head. You’re not going crazy, your frame wants to defend itself as best it can.”

Starscream shook his helm into his aeriemate’s shoulder. “No, he’s there! He’s in me! Attached to me! Bonded to me! It’s not fair!”

Pharma went still and pulled Starscream away from him. “What? Starscream, do you think… Do you think he’s bonded to you?”

Starscream nodded miserably. “I don’t want this.” He buried his helm in Pharma’s cockpit. “I don’t want to live like this.”

Pharma held his aeriemate close and was as miserable as the other Seeker. 

 

Orion Pax could barely crawl out of berth. He hadn’t recharged at all and his frame was crying out for rest. Starscream’s emotions had tormented him all night. The bond was calling, growing stronger the longer they denied it, the more they rejected it.

He had a name, though. Not a location, but a name and a face. A familiar name and face. Pharma. Of course, a Seeker, tricolor. Just like the other Seeker, the one in the market. A supposed visitor- an aeriemate who had been assaulted. Starscream was with Pharma.

Orion looked Pharma up in the police database. It was an abuse of resources, but Pit if someone called him on it he could say he suspected the medic had ties to the terrorists. It was true enough. When he had an address, he sighed. This was such slag. 

 

Pharma opened the door to his apartment to find Orion Pax on the threshold. He made a squeaking noise. “Pax! What do you need? Is there something I can do for you?” He chattered when he was nervous- he was chattering now.

“I need to see Starscream.” Orion cut to the heart of the matter. 

Pharma made another odd noise. “Who? There’s no Starscream here.”

Orion just glared at the fluttering medic.

“Let him in.” Starscream revealed himself. He had reclaimed his own paintjob, though his sigils were still covered. His red-gold optics were hard and cold. “If he has the audacity to come here, let him in.”

Pharma squeaked again and stood aside. “Starscream…”

“We don’t need you here right now.” The Seeker nodded. “Go to Macadams. I’ll comm you when he’s gone.” 

Pharma fled. Orion heard the door shut behind him. He faced the Seeker and felt his own poisonous rage rise in his spark, matching Starscream’s.


	19. Prowl and Jazz

Prowl was beyond furious as he typed a message to Pharma. It would take time for it to reach the medic, more time for Pharma’s response to return. There was a clear line and Prime had crossed it more than once within the past few days.

Well, he had actually crossed the lines long before, but he had only become aware of them in the past few days. He was thoroughly disgusted.

First line: He had been in a deep relationship with his “Decepticon Informant” who turned out to be Starscream, of all mechs. It was a deep enough relationship to result in a sparkling, which- granted- didn’t require a significant relationship, but they had clearly been overjoyed to have it and that implied a deeper relationship.

Second line: He had kept the identity of his informant a complete secret from anyone else in the faction. Prowl supposed he could understand that- so it wasn’t really a line. Starscream had to maintain his “I’m a Decepticon” façade, so he couldn’t be mysteriously unharmed when they squared off to fight, but it would have been nice to be kept in the loop.

Third line: He was BONDED to said Decepticon Informant. A true, honest to goodness, spark bond. Aside from the person he was bonded to- that was a whole other issue that raised questions about Optimus’s taste in mechs- the danger was astronomical. Megatron and his second had been in a strained relationship for millennia. To simply bond into that kind of danger without any thought to what would happen should Megatron one day get sick of his Second in Command’s attitude…

They might have been out their Prime as well as their informant, depending on the depth of the spark bond and the strength of each spark. 

Granted, a spark bond was a clever means of communication when one absolutely could not afford to be detected by any means. Still, the consequences… the things that might have happened… frightened Prowl. 

Jazz dropped onto Prowl’s chair behind the Praxian and nuzzled the back of his helm. “What are you doing, brooding over things that didn’t happen?”

“But they might have happened, Jazz!” Prowl put his helm in his servos. “And it raises questions about our leader that I never thought I would need to ask. This whole thing is a wrench in the machine: It’s chaos!”

“It’s not so bad.” Jazz disagreed. “At least we have the ‘Screamer on our side now. Remember, you kept trying to get him to defect during the first part of the war.”

“He was Megatron’s best officer and liked and respected among the Seekers, of course I wanted that on our side!” Prowl chuffed.

“Then why are you so upset to find out that he was on our side the whole time?” Jazz cooed to his mate. “You’re not making any sense, Prowly.”

“It’s hard to explain.” Prowl grumbled. “Our agent or not, Starscream is ruthless. I don’t agree with his tactics and as a person, he’s awful.”

“He seemed pretty subdued in the meeting. Maybe his noxious personality is part of the act.” Jazz suggested.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am being unreasonable.” Prowl sighed. “But I am glad he hasn’t put up a fuss about being in the brig. I feel much better about it.”

The comm twittered. Bluestreak, on guard in the brig, was calling. “Prowl speaking.”

“Oh, good, Prowl, I was calling in to ask if you had any special instructions for guard duty?” Bluestreak responded. “Prime just arrived and he’s settled in with Starscream and-“

“Wait a minute, what?” Prowl incredulously replied. “Why is Optimus in the brig?”

“He said he was going to be staying in the brig for the duration that Starscream has to.” Bluestreak responded. “Something about standing by his mate. What do you think he meant by that? Starscream is our informant, but is he Prime’s mate too? Cause that’s stretching-“

“Bluestreak, just guard the cells and leave Starscream and Prime alone.” Prowl groaned. “We’ll sort this out in the morning.”

Jazz was smirking. “Isn’t that adorable? They want to be together. How many bets that the berth sheets will need changing in the morning?”

Prowl growled at his bondmate. Jazz laughed and nuzzled his chevron. “Come to bed and let’s leave this to the morning, Prowl. Nothing’s harmed.”

Prowl agreed at last. “Fine, but this is… there will be problems if this continues.”

“I’m sure Optimus will be glad to give us the whole story.” Jazz told his mate. “Now come on, berth calls us.”


	20. 4 Million Years Before: Second Encounter

Orion and Starscream glared hate at each other for a long moment. Orion folded his arms. Starscream stood up straight with difficulty and gestured to his frame, displaying the damage.

“Be gentle with me.” He sneered. 

Orion found himself charging the Seeker and grabbing the back of his helm, forcing their lips together. His spark rang in time with the Seekers as the bond shrilled. Sparks were simple things in the end: Energy and energy called out for more of itself.

Starscream bit the convoy’s lips and energon spilled. His claws dug into the convoy’s armor, leaving deep scratches. 

Orion hissed and his grip became harder. There was a perverse thrill through Starscream’s interfacing array when the larger mech dropped his servo to his thighs and the digits nearly encompassed the whole of the limb. The Seeker felt an instant flare of disgust at himself and Orion mirrored it with disgust and self-loathing of his own. Thank Primus he wasn’t a Vosaphile. Starscream couldn’t have born it if the Convoy actually liked his looks, the feel of his frame. 

This was the bond, the call of two sparks, and nothing more but hatred and rage and self-disgust. 

Orion’s interface was hot by the time they reached Pharma’s berth. Starscream would change the covering after the hot shot cop left. Starscream’s valve had lubricated this time, though previous damage meant the stretch was still painful. 

Starscream didn’t profane his memories of Megatron by dragging some perverted fantasy of him into the berth, but he did toss back at Orion that the Decepticon warlord would make a better lover than Orion any day.

The convoy- who considered himself a bit of a mech-killer- was offended, but snapped back that Starscream had nothing to base that on except hearsay. He also made several tasteless comments about the state of Megatron’s spike. Starscream growled and bit him again. 

Their sparks met in a burst of hurtful, hot emotions. Raging emotions. Starscream arched into overload entirely against his will and Orion came with a roar. They separated almost immediately, mutual hatred forbade any sort of cuddling or after care.

Starscream pointed the convoy towards the washrack before Orion would have asked. He curled his knees to his chassis and stared at the cop, driving him out with the force of his glare. When he was done, he let his helm fall into his servo. Frag cleaning the sheets, frag it all. He wanted his aeriemate.

And like a miracle, Pharma was there.

Pharma held Starscream and helped him into the washracks. “I was in the lobby. I saw him leaving. Are you…”

“I’m as good as I can be, Pharma.” Starscream’s voice was miserable. “Which is to say, not at all.”

Pharma turned on the warm solvent and picked up a rag. “Something tore again.” He dabbed at the energon on Starscream’s valve and upper thighs. 

Starscream nodded and set a servo on Pharma’s shoulder, feeling the medic’s calm. He was in the zone right now, taking care of an injured Cybertronian. The Seeker let his helm fall back against the wall as coolant began to run freely down his faceplates. Did he really have to go back to Tarn? Pharma would treat him, offer him sanctuary. Orion Pax would have to protect them both if only to save his own spark, but he didn’t want to stay.

He wanted to go, to fight against mechs like Pax who thought they could take what they wanted and damn the miserable victims they ground underpede. This was why he fought. That he was the victim now meant nothing. 

He coldly closed himself off as best he could. The last thing he wanted was Orion to be aware of him and his resolutions.


	21. Morning Rises

Optimus stroked Starscream’s left wing. The Seeker was purring and letting out the occasional trill through his broken vocalizer as both mechs slowly spiraled down towards recharge. Optimus sighed and pressed closer to his Seeker, one pede stroking the Seeker’s.

Starscream grumbled and rearranged himself, muttering, before the purring resumed as he pressed harder into Optimus’s windshield.

Optimus reached out through their spark bond, rousing his mate. The Seeker growled softly before raising his helm, red gold optics meeting Optimus’s. Optimus kissed him once before speaking. “We need to decide what to tell the others about our bonding.”

Starscream laid his helm back down. “After Megatron started going crazy, you and I met each other on a battlefield. I was recovering from a beating and shot down, Megatron left me to die, you patched me up, and we got to talking. One meeting became many and I decided to fight for your side. We were already very close, so we bonded as a means of communication and because we were in love. There. Simple.”

Optimus was quiet for a long moment. “It’s not really the whole truth, though, is it?”

Starscream sighed and rolled over onto Optimus’s windshield, arching his back and laying back down. “Optimus, we can never tell anyone about that. It would be disastrous if someone found out. For both of us.”

“I don’t know, Starscream. I just have this awful feeling that if we don’t speak up first, get everything out in the open, then someone else will, someone who will use it against us.”

Starscream was quiet for a long moment. “I understand that, Pax, I really do, but it could destroy your position.”

It was Optimus’s turn to be quiet. “Starscream, why do you call me Pax when we’re alone? I’ve asked before, but you never really answered.”

Starscream rolled off of Optimus and onto his back to stare at the ceiling. “I suppose to remind myself that you’re Cybertronian, like the rest of us. You know I object to the lineage of Primes and the absolute control they exercised over people like me.”

“I know, but I would have thought my old name a reflection of evil times, not something you would willingly think on.” Optimus explained.

Starscream reached into his subspace and pulled out a pendant on a chain, holding it up. “It’s not all evil times. At least, that’s not how I remember it.”

“Of course not. That’s not how I meant it.” Optimus traced over the pendant’s design. It was like an optic crossed with the sunset.

“Don’t get me wrong, love, they were bad days, but they were bad for both of us. I wasn’t the only one hurt and you weren’t the only one wrong.” Starscream laid the pendant around his neck. 

“But I was the initial aggressor, and I inflicted the worst injuries.”

“Mmm.” Starscream neither agreed nor disagreed. “But I don’t regret it. At the time, I would have given anything to change it, but now I can’t imagine life without you, and you’re a different person, Optimus. You were not who you are now, and I like the change. You remind me of what it’s like to be alive, and I need that.”

Optimus stroked Starscream’s helm. “But-“

Starscream pressed a digit to his lips. “No buts. It’s time for you to stop living in the past and start looking towards the future. We have a sparkling on the way, and they need you to be their Creator, not a droopy, depressed old convoy mech. Got that?”

“Got it.” Optimus smiled at his mate. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Starscream pressed a kiss to his lipplates. “Now go to recharge.”


	22. 4 Million Years Ago: Almost a Married Mech

Pharma watched Starscream preparing for the flight. “You don’t have to go.” Pharma reminded him. Megatron had called earlier, asking after Starscream, asking for an ETA. Starscream had responded that he would be there before the next nightfall. “You can stay here.”

“I can’t hide from the world.” Starscream responded and rapped on his chassis. “And this isn’t going to hold me back. I swear.”

“All right.” Pharma sighed. “I can’t stop you, but I wish you would stay.”

“I wish I could stay.” Starscream packed a spare cube of energon in his subspace. “I’m surprised he isn’t trying to stop me, to be honest. Maybe I’m better at filtering the bond than I thought.”

Pharma pressed his servos together. “I will miss you.”

“As will I.” Starscream turned and pressed a kiss to his aeriemate’s chevron. “Good-bye, Pharma.”

“Good bye, Starscream.” Pharma saw him out and into the air.

 

Starscream sensed a truck below him, struggling to keep up. The bond was a flurry of angry demands for the Seeker to land and jabbering curses. Starscream chose a location that would give him the high ground and transformed, landing on a variegate outcropping. Orion caught up and transformed to his own. “Where are you going?” He angrily addressed the Seeker.

“Back to where I belong.” Starscream snarled back. 

“You leave and we’ll both go mad!” Orion snapped.

“It’s possible to keep a spark bond’s call to a minimum by interfacing with other mechs, copiously.” Starscream replied. “I’m sure Iacon’s ‘hero cop’ can find enough whores to keep himself sated. If we’re lucky, we can stretch this out for three decacycles at a time.”

“And you?” Orion taunted. “What are you going to say to your Lord Megatron?”

“I’m going to tell him the truth.” Starscream’s optics burned. “Through no fault of his or mine, I am no longer a good choice for his bonded. I wouldn’t burden him with your crimes, though.”

Orion stared back. “I don’t understand you people.”

“That’s clear.” Starscream took to the air, flying to clear the rage and hate that clouded his processor. 

 

Lord Megatron was waiting for him when he arrived the next evening. He was holding a Vosnian marriage garland in his servos and wearing one around his shoulders. “Starscream.” He draped the garland over the Seeker’s wings as soon as the tricolor mech landed. “I have a surprise. Come this way.” He took sky blue servos in his black ones and pulled.

It hurt Starscream straight to the spark, but he balked. “No, wait, my Lord.”

Megatron stopped. He would never push the Seeker past his limits. He was safe and warm and…

Starscream leaned his helm into the tank-former’s solid chassis. Coolant trails spilled out of his optics. “I was raped.” He hadn’t meant to tell Megatron that, but it spilled out of his lipplates. “I was raped and beaten. My spark is damaged, and I can no longer accept or encourage you to become my mate.” It was close enough. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. Even if we can’t bond, we can still be together.” Megatron told Starscream, his voice soft. “I’ve assembled a wedding party, if you’re up to it, but if you’re not… I understand. Delaying might be a good idea in any case-“

Megatron cupped the Seeker into his arms and Starscream felt a burst of self-hatred course through him. “No!” He pushed away. “No, don’t touch me. I’m sorry. Just.” He shied away as far as he could. “I’m sorry. I’ve brought shame on you. I have to see Hook about further repairs.” The Seeker escaped, leaving the other mech on the landing platform, adorned in wedding finery.

Megatron turned towards Iacon and his lipplates twisted bitterly, a single drop of coolant escaped his optics. Turning away, he re-entered the base. He had a wedding party to cancel.

And revenge to plan on the bastard who had taken his Seeker from him.


	23. Pharma and Kaon 2

Pharma looked up when Kaon came in. “Hello.” He was curled up on the electric chair’s berth with a datapad in his servos. 

“Hello.” Kaon settled on the berth beside him and stroked the medic’s chevroned helm. “How do you feel?”

“A little sick.” Pharma admitted. “I think it’s going to be a rough carrying.”

Kaon made a purring noise that didn’t sound too far off of a Seeker’s. “My poor little medic.” The Pet hopped up onto the berth as well and nuzzled along Pharma’s frame, licking the dents that seemed constant and nuzzling at his chin.

“Get off, you slobbering pest.” Pharma muttered. The Pet whined and curled into the medic, laying its head down near Pharma’s cockpit. 

In truth, Pharma had grown remarkably close to the Pet in the time he had been forced to remain in these quarters. He was a social creature- solitude wore him down. Slowly, Kaon had grown on him as well.

Tarn’s voice rang over the intercom. “Kaon, report to the bridge.”

Kaon sighed. “Work is never done. I’ll be back.” He soothed a servo down Pharma’s spinal strut and stood up. He didn’t call the Pet as he left the room and the turbofox remained with Pharma.

Pharma sighed and hugged the Pet, or as he had taken to calling him, Silron. Yes, it was pathetic to name a pet after one’s aeriemate, but what could he say? He missed Starscream. He wondered what his aeriemate would think when he found out that his proud cousin had joined the Decepticons- been bonded to Kaon of all mechs. It was a miracle the electric chair hadn’t seen his memories of Starscream and put together enough evidence to convict Pharma’s cousin. 

Pharma had kept his aeriemate safe. 

Kaon returned to their room with an odd expression on his faceplates. “Pharma, you’re Starscream’s aeriemate, aren’t you?”

“I am.” Pharma looked up from his scratching on Silron’s ears. “Why?”

“He was found passing information to the Autobots. Lord Megatron has placed him at the top of the List.” Kaon explained, sitting down beside his mate again. “Did he ever mention anything like that to you?”

“No. He never said he was passing information, but we haven’t spoken since I was sent to Delphi.” Pharma explained.

Kaon laid back on the berth and stretched out. His spark brushed against Pharma’s, sensing that the medic was telling the truth. Pharma pouted and hugged Silron like a teddy bear as he laid down on top of Kaon. “Of course I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Kaon stroked Pharma’s wings. “It’s strange, that’s all. I wouldn’t have thought, of all the mechs in the army, that Starscream would betray the Decepticons. Lord Megatron personally is a given at this point, but the cause? No, I never would have thought.”

Pharma’s spark spasmed slightly with guilt that he filtered carefully. “He was dedicated, when we were still speaking.”

“I served under him for a while before I was chosen for the Justice Division.” Kaon sighed. “Never saw someone so dedicated to Freedom. He acted like a two-shanix whore with the men, but he was dedicated to fighting the Autobots. Possessed even.”

Pharma’s spark reacted with ire at the slight against his aeriemate, remembering the reason Starscream felt so compelled to interface with any mech who would oblige him. Kaon felt the guilt rising in his mate’s spark through their connection, though it was faint. “I had him once, have I told you that?”

Pharma’s spark became still. “No, you haven’t.”

“I did. It was good, I suppose. It was a long time ago. What stuck with me was how sad he seemed, how desperate. I had heard that he loved Lord Megatron, but that something had happened in their relationship, that he had pushed him away. I guess he was trying to fill the void.” Kaon hummed. “Now this. Sad.”

Pharma sat up slowly, curling in on himself. Starscream… Poor Starscream. His grip on his spark was slipping as he relived their childhood memories and their relationship crashed over him all over again. They had been so close for so long, his absence was a physical ache that built between the other jet’s wings. 

Kaon stroked Pharma’s curved wing. “Pharma? Have I upset you?”

“No.” Pharma hated that he sobbed the word, as coolant began leaking from his blue optics. “Kaon, there’s something I have to tell you. It has to do with Starscream…”

Kaon sat up as well and Silron raised his head, whining. “You can confide in me, Pharma.”

Pharma nodded. Starscream would not thank him for this. Perhaps he was wrong to speak after so long, but it needed to be said. There were some crimes that simply couldn’t be allowed to go unpunished for so long. With a deep intake, he began to tell Kaon everything he knew about Starscream and his relationship with a hot shot, bad tempered cop: Orion Pax.


	24. 4 Million Years Before: Whore's Bath

“Sky?” Starscream questioned his trinemate. “How do you get someone to frag you?”

“Aside from outright asking?” Skywarp questioned. “You slide up to them in a bar or club, feel them out a bit, then suggest you take it somewhere else.” He looked askance at the other Seeker. He knew the story Starscream had told Megatron. “If you need to frag someone, TC and I would be glad to be of assistance. You might not get the treatment you’re looking for with the other men.”

Starscream shook his helm. “No, Skywarp, it’s all right. Keep yourself and your mate out of this.” 

“We’re just worried about you, Scream.” Skywarp sighed and stroked a servo down the Seeker’s wing. 

Starscream recoiled away. “Don’t touch me, Sky.”

Skywarp watched him finish his preening. “Just so you know, recoiling is the worst way to look for a frag-buddy.”

Starscream sighed and shook his helm. “Right, Skywarp, I’ll keep that in mind.”

He stood up and walked out of their habsuite. He reflected that if he was going to be fragging with other soldiers regularly, he should have his own single to keep Skywarp and TC out of it. It was unusual for a Seeker trine to split, but then again… Under the circumstances, he supposed he could make Soundwave see reason.

Scrapper was leaning on the bar in the corner when Starscream came in. He scanned the other mech with his optics and reflected that Scrapper had flirted with Starscream a few times when they were working together more directly. He was also about the right height and weight for what Starscream wanted.

He could sense Orion going about his daily business, finishing his work. Good, he hoped he was distracted by this. 

Fragging convoy.

Starscream leaned on the bar and tapped it twice to get the bartender’s attention. The drink was awful. He hated engex, but he wasn’t here to drink. Looking to the side, he met Scrapper’s optics and smiled flirtily.

Scrapper looked confused for a moment, then smirked back. Starscream flicked his wings – come over – and the construction mech slid towards him. “Well, what’s a pretty Seeker like you doing in a place like this?”

This was easy.

 

Orion felt Starscream getting riled up for an interface while he was attempting to work on a backlog of reports. It wasn’t pleasant to try and work on actual work while Starscream was taking care of his excess charge. Orion hadn’t had a chance to try and find someone himself yet. 

Finally, he pushed himself back from his desk. This wasn’t going to work. If Starscream was fragging, he wanted to be fragging as well.

The last rays of sunlight were disappearing and there was a tricolor secretary down in records who made sweet optics at him. Some low-level datapusher who would never have caught his optic otherwise. He liked his frags sweet and sultry, well-polished and delicate.

Orion leaned on the desk counter. “Manners?” He called. “Manners, you in?”

Manners peeped out, his optical enhancer zoomed in on Orion and he squeaked. “Orion Pax, sir!” He called and dropped his boxes. “Woops.”

Orion sighed. “Manners, I need some data on the terrorist case.”

“Still stuck on that.” Manners gave him a soft look, adoring. “So dedicated.”

Orion nodded and opened his battlemask to flash the other mech a grin. Thank goodness for mesh patches, the bites Starscream had left on his face had healed right up. 

Manners was easy to seduce and an unsatisfying frag over all, but it quieted the bond for the evening and Orion could sleep peacefully.

 

Starscream slid out of Scrapper’s berth and returned to his shared habsuite. Skywarp lifted his helm when he came in, but Starscream waved him off and took a whore’s bath. Fitting. 

What had he become?


	25. Split Spark

Starscream lay on his front with his heels swinging in the air as he read through a datapad that Optimus had brought. It was full of human literature. His scientific processor was abuzz with tales of orphans and murder, houses of terror and long walks across deserts. He loved to see the cultures that other species evolved, to understand them a little better with every book he read.

There was a twinge below his spark. Starscream rubbed the spot soothingly, sure it was just his sparkling. “Hey, little one.” He murmured. 

The twinge came again, a little stronger this time, and he sat up, putting down the datapad. The twinges continued, each one a little stronger than the last. Starscream pressed both servos to his cockpit, gasping. He knew this feeling. He had felt it before a long, long time ago when he was so much younger. When it was his first sparkling and not his second and there was so much he had yet to learn. The bond flared open with mixed joy and fear that sank into his struts and chilled them. Optimus responded with questioning and with an urgency. He abandoned his meeting to start back towards Starscream.

Starscream projected out a memory. “It descended… I don’t know what to do. It’s safe. It will stay.”

Optimus responded with his own pride and fierce joy. Starscream got a brief glimpse through his mate’s optics of the cellblocks in the brig before the convoy mech was bursting through the door and gathering him up into his arms. “Are you all right?” He asked the Seeker as he held him close. 

“I’m fine. They’re not bad yet. I’d like to see Ratchet, though, if he sets up a scanner, we can watch it happening.” Starscream suggested. In the next moment, he gave an undignified squawk as Optimus put him into a fireman’s carry and barreled out of the brig and towards the medbay. 

“You are such a child! Put me down!” Starscream beat against the convoy’s shoulder with one fist. “This isn’t dignified.” He fired off a rude gesture when Sideswipe dared to laugh as they passed the red twin.

Ratchet was as surprised as Starscream when Optimus brought the Seeker into the medbay, but quickly caught on and brought the scanner over. “All right, all right, don’t bring my medbay down around our heads.” He told the excited Prime. To Starscream, he muttered. “Has he always been like this around you?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Starscream sighed and watched the screen blink to life as the twinges continued, becoming more intense as the sparklet struggled to detatch itself from its orbit around his lifeforce and establish its own in the nanite-rich fluid held in the tank below Starscream’s spark casing.

There was a twinge that shot straight through his whole body and the sparklet broke away, seeming to fall down into the tank through a conduit specifically for this purpose. It glowed there among fluid that Starscream knew was shimmering silver-blue, composed of tiny bits of metal, glass, and other materials to create the sparkling’s tiny bodies. Most of it was from his own frame, but he knew that Optimus’s transfluid had had a servo in the collection in the tank. The combined parent’s nanites worked like DNA in humans, mixing, matching, and forming their sparklings bodies. Starscream felt coolant at his optics and a thoroughly stupid grin on his face, even as the twinges began again. The sparklet was going to split at least once. 

Optimus was leaning so close to the screen Starscream could hardly see it as the sparklet seemed to broaden, tentacles of energy lashing out as it began to pull itself apart. Three… no, four… four large tentacles of energy reached out and began gathering themselves, looking for a solid pull, a place to stand. Starscream jerked as they caught onto nodes on the sides of the tank and paused, gathering their strength.

“You can do it. Go on.” Optimus whispered into the screen. His servos found Starscream’s and clasped them. “Pull together, babies.”

Starscream just watched as the tentacles braced themselves and then pulled. At the same time, a very, very strong twinge went through his frame: It was painful! “Aaaah!” he gasped, arching up from the berth.

Optimus didn’t turn his optics from the screen as the four tentacles pulled until they were separated and then coalesced into four little sparks, but he did put an arm around Starscream and sent out pulses of calm and love with his own spark. 

Ratchet examined the screen for a few moments longer. “Congratulations, you two: Four of them.” He smiled softly as Starscream began cooing and trilling now that the pain was over. The sparks, hovering in the ether, seemed to lash a little more strongly when he sang to them. They were already pulling bits and pieces together over themselves, constructing a spark casing even as the mechs watched. It was slow going, the pace would make a snail look like Blurr, but it was there. Soon, the nanite-rich fluid would coalesce into pods or, depending upon how the sparklings formed, perhaps one large one. It would become a jelly-like, protective film around the sparklings. When they were born, the gel pod would protect them from the energy and radiation from Starscream’s spark as they passed over it and out through his chest plates. Grounders gave birth through the valve, but flyers were born through the chestplates. 

Finally, Ratchet turned off the scanner as Prowl began pinging that Starscream was supposed to be contained and there was still supposed to be a tactical meeting, sparklet separation or not. Optimus sighed and walked back with Starscream through the base and to the brig. He pressed a few kisses to the Seeker’s lipplates and forehelm before he had to leave the free-spirited flyer behind. Starscream lay back down on the berth and hovered in the afterglow of the spark separation, singing in soft Seeker to his four new bitlets. Four! That had to be some kind of record.


	26. 4 Million Years Before: Third Encounter

At the end of three decacycles, the bond’s call was unbearable. Starscream made a carefully worded excuse and flew off to Iacon. He could take care of some Decepticon business and the bond’s keening at once. 

Starscream had seen the location of Orion’s apartment and slipped in easily. It didn’t have a balcony-more’s the pity- but it did have a window large enough to accommodate his wings. He was waiting for Orion in the berthroom door.

Orion folded his arms when he saw Starscream and they had what would become a traditional staring contest while their sparks screamed for each other. Inevitably, the sparks won and Orion surged forwards to pitch Starscream onto the berth. The Seeker scrambled to get his heels beneath him and the convoy pinned his servos to the headboard. 

“Damn you.” Starscream hissed into his audial “Damn you!”

“The feeling is mutual, Sweetspark.” Orion threw Starscream’s modesty panel open and thrust a digit into the clutching valve. Their two, violent interfaces had taught him that- as tempting as it was to ram right in and get it over with- a dry, torn valve meant a dry, abraded spike.

Starscream hissed at the intrusion as his frame began to heat up and his valve moistened, recognizing its bond-partner.

Orion kissed the Seeker to shut him up and accepted the sharp-fanged bites he received in return. The free servo trailed down the Seeker’s helm to his throat and squeezed, choking Starscream’s vocalizer.

Their sparks met in another frenzied, fevered merge and they fell into each other, ripping and biting whatever fell under their servos. 

Starscream regained himself pinned beneath Orion. “Get off.” He ordered sourly.

“This is my berth.” Orion grouchily rolled off the Seeker.

“This is my spark, but that didn’t stop you.” Starscream sat up and headed for the washracks. 

He took a great deal of pleasure in using the products Orion had out and came out refreshed. 

“Where are you going?” Orion questioned when the Seeker headed for the window again.

“Pharma’s. I always stay with him when I come up to Iacon.” Starscream dropped out of the window and into the air, flying away.

Orion didn’t bother to get up and watch him go.


	27. Lullabies in the Brig

Bluestreak and Sideswipe shot glances at each other when the singing began. The voice singing was borderline pleasant. Was that Screamer?

They crept carefully towards the door to Starscream’s cell and listened, audials turned up all the way. It was Screamer! He was singing what sounded like nonsense, but had to be Vosnian or something. It sounded like birds, but with a complex melody and rhythmic meter that rose and fell like a tide. 

Bluestreak was absolutely silenced as he pressed his audials to the door. He glanced at Sideswipe and pointed at the door, mouthing. “Is it a recording?”

Sideswipe shook his helm. He would remember if he had ever heard even a strain of music remotely like this.

Jazz passed by, stared at the two, and was about to ask what was going on when Bluestreak- of all mechs- held a digit in front of his lips. Jazz nodded and crept forwards. Sideswipe pointed to the door and the saboteur leaned his head towards it, picking up the strains of a soft, Vosnian Lullaby. All three mechs listened with slightly slack jaws as the almost-beautiful strains filtered towards them. Some work on that glitched-out vocalizer and it would be really, truly gorgeous singing. Jazz should know.

Jazz stayed with his helm close to the door until the singing stopped for a brief moment and started up again on another one. Then, he straightened and all three cast glances at each other before Bluestreak leaned back towards the door. Sideswipe stepped away, but not out of hearing range and Bluestreak stayed glued to the door.

Jazz looked at the sniper listening to the lullabies and reflected that Bluestreak was just so dang young… With that in mind, he turned away and walked off, still thinking of the lullaby and reflecting that the unexpected always seemed to come around at a body.


	28. 4 Million Years Before: 2 Lovers

Megatron visited Starscream’s single habsuite. The Seeker had claimed an empty room of his own a while back to better facilitate his string of increasingly frustrating and meaningless frags. The warlord dwarfed the small chamber, even standing barely in the door. “Starscream, may I come in?”

Starscream looked up from his work cleaning a blaster. Immediately, he stood to attention. “My Lord, may I ask what brings you here? If you had commed, I would have come.”

Megatron sat down in an offered chair. “I’m not here on command business, Starscream.” He gently told the Seeker.

Starscream sat down slowly beside his desk, expression neutral. 

Megatron sighed and cupped his optics. “Starscream, please, we were going to be bonded. Don’t freeze me out. I know whatever happened to you was awful, but I want to be here for you. I want to support you through what you’re going through. I can help, but you have to let me.”

Starscream’s spark filled with despair. “It isn’t that simple.” 

“Then explain it to me.” Megatron reached out for the Seeker and took his servos. “I’ll never understand if you don’t explain it.”

Starscream bowed his helm, feeling coolant prick at his optics again. “There isn’t anything to explain. I am damaged. I cannot bond with you, My Lord. I may never be able to carry your sparklings either. You must give up on me. Soundwave has long borne affections for you. Perhaps you should speak to him.”

“Soundwave is a sycophantic fanboy who spends too much time being loyal to my every whim. Don’t you see I need you? I need you to question me.” Megatron begged. “Please, let me back in.”

Starscream was silent, his helm turned away. “I will always be here to question you and help you stay on the path, Megatron, but I can no longer be what you want me to. I am a ruin, think of me that way.” He paused for a moment. “Perhaps it would be best if I was away for a time. I will go to Iacon and Praxus and begin running the resistances there and coordinating them with us.”

The Seeker’s cold, unfeeling tone was too much for the sparkbroken warlord. Megatron laid his helm in Starscream’s lap and sobbed. It was the first and only time Starscream had seen or heard him cry in earnest. The Seeker stroked the black helmet and his own tears trickled down his cheekplates.

 

Orion lay beside Manners in his berth. The tricolor mech was deep in recharge after the evening. The small secretary had insisted they go out for the evening, to dance and for a meal. Orion had consented to make the grounder shut up.

He was almost as annoying as Starscream. 

Orion laid on his side, away from the clingy ‘bot. He wondered how he was going to get rid of the mech for Starscream’s visit. At last, he closed his optics in an attempt to recharge. The bond was beginning to keen again.


	29. Pharma's Reveal

Megatron was an impressive mech. Pharma had known that about the gun and tank former before he had joined the Autobots. Starscream had alternately fanboyed over him and pretended not to be interested long before he had joined the Decepticons. Oh, yes, Pharma knew all about how impressive Megatron was. 

That didn’t prepare him to meet the mech in person. Sitting on a throne, even one raised by only a modest four steps, the Leader of the Decepticons looked almost like a divinity. Certainly regal enough to pass for a Prime or a Noble, back when the title meant something. 

The fact that the four of them- Tarn, Megatron, Kaon, and Pharma, not counting Silron, who was curled supportively against the Seeker- were alone in a throne room big enough to contain Pharma’s whole apartment before the war, brought the fear spiking through the slender flyer’s spark up to tank-draining levels. Thank Primus he hadn’t been able to eat much before they came or he might actually have drained himself.

“Tarn, you asked that this be a private audience.” The Tank-former gave his subordinates a measuring glare that took in all of them at once, seeming to read right into their very souls. Pharma’s wings fluttered, he didn’t dare rattle them, but he wanted to.

“My second tells me that his mate has information about the newest addition to the List that will interest you, Lord Megatron.” Tarn rumbled in his deep voice.

Pharma whimpered when Megatron turned the weight of his attention on him. “Indeed. I know you.” He took in Pharma’s details. “Starscream kept a picture of you in his subspace: Sentimentality. It was destroyed. Pharma, correct? His aeriemate?”

Pharma nodded, rendered mute by the huge Cybertronian’s perception. Kaon stepped up to his side. “Tell Lord Megatron everything you told me.” He murmured to the Seeker. “You won’t be harmed for telling the truth.”

Pharma let out a squeak that sounded absolutely pitiful. Then, he glanced over at Kaon and Tarn and remembered why he was doing this. This was the mech Starscream loved. This brute of a tank former had been Starscream’s choice and that choice had been stolen from him, just as it had been stolen from Pharma. If this was how his aeriemate had felt, what he had gone through, then Pharma couldn’t help but hate himself for not doing anything. What went around came around and there was no way for Pharma to turn back the time, not for himself, not for First Aid. But if he tried, if there was a way, maybe Starscream could be spared further pain. He took a deep in-vent and gathered himself up. “Lord Megatron, I fear that what I have to say will not please you, but I beg you to hear me out.”


	30. 4 Million Years Before: Manner's Defender

“The way you’re treating Manners is despicable.” Starscream told Orion. The Seeker was lying in the cop’s berth after another borderline-violent interface.

“Are you still here?” Orion questioned, his optics offline and his frame still. Unnaturally still.

“Shut up.” Starscream crawled on top of the convoy. “Listen to me. Manners is falling in love with you.”

“That’s hardly my fault.” Orion petulantly replied to the Seeker.

Starscream hissed. “Damn you, Pax, just listen to me! Manners is innocent. He doesn’t have to suffer because of this.”

“And yet it isn’t my fault he’s getting the wrong idea.”

Starscream slapped him. “Listen to me!”

Orion sat up and pinned the Seeker, Starscream allowing it. “What do you want?”

“I want you to end things with Manners before the poor mech gets seriously hurt.” Starscream replied. “He doesn’t deserve to be treated like slag like this.”

“Are you jealous?” Orion provoked. 

“Of anyone who wants you? Hardly.” Starscream kneed Orion in the groin and stood up. “I’m just saying, Manners is going to blow up in your face some day.”

Orion hissed in pain, clutching his exposed spike housing. He regretted not closing his panel now.

 

Starscream glided away, aiming for the safe house where the Decepticon Resistance in Iacon made its berth. Orion was a bastard, but he wasn’t usually intentionally malicious. He would probably take the Seeker’s advice where Manners was concerned. 

Starscream pressed a servo to his prickling spark. The bond was strengthening. He had been practicing filtering over the decacycles and could almost completely shut Orion out. It was a relief to be alone in his spark again, even if it was never going to be completely shut again.

Skywarp was waiting for him. “Star, where have you been?”

“Reconoitering.” Starscream replied. “I have some ideas for how we’re going to sneak the next shipment of weaponry into Iacon.”

“Good.” Skywarp stared at him for a long moment and stepped aside. They were growing more distant, but it wasn’t surprising. 

Starscream went to his small berth and slept quietly the rest of the night.


	31. Megatron's Call

Optimus Prime wasn’t in the habit of taking calls from his worst enemies. Least of all, Megatron, but this one piqued his interest. For one, it was clearly for his optics only, as it had been sent to his private office specifically. He wanted to hear what Megatron had to say about Starscream.

He opened up the computer and a jolt was sent coursing down his spinal strut. Megatron looked… different. He looked more confident, less the insane tyrant Optimus had become used to seeing. There was an old fire in his optics that had existed before the war turned outwards. 

There was a twitch of jealousy in his spark as he remembered memories Starscream had once shown him, of what Megatron was like when the Seeker was honored to follow him, when the Second in Command had loved the tank former. “Megatron. What do you want?”

Megatron folded his arms. Even his voice and speech pattern had changed. “Optimus Prime. I don’t want anything from you. This is a warning. Before your most recent invasion of my base, I learned that Starscream had been passing you information. However, I have now learned the reason why.”

“Megatron-“ Optimus was interrupted as the Warlord leaned close suddenly and hissed at him. 

“Shut up. I never want to hear another word from your filth-ridden vocalizer. I know what you’ve done. For Starscream’s sake, I will not reveal it to my men, but I will destroy you, Prime. If it’s the last thing I do, I will end you and your hold on him. It’s gone on far too long, but I know everything now.” Megatron’s optics burned. “And I will never rest until you are brought to justice.” The line cut.

Optimus sat back in his chair. Starscream’s spark was pulsing questioningly against his. The Seeker had sensed his mate’s distress, but Optimus’s spark wasn’t open enough for him to see the source. Optimus responded with a soothing pulse and showed the Seeker the memory of the past few minutes. Starscream’s spark became worried and projected desire to have Optimus at his side.

Optimus obliged his mate, returning to the cell they were sharing soon afterwards. 

Starscream had his knees curled to his chest. “What are we going to do?” 

“I don’t know. He says he won’t tell anyone.” Optimus was quiet for a moment. “But the person who told him might.”

Starscream shook his helm. “I only ever told one person about you and I, Optimus, and Pharma wouldn’t cooperate with Megatron if his spark was on the line.” 

Optimus nodded. “But that would open up the question of how he knew. Perhaps Pharma told someone else who told Megatron.”

“Not Pharma. He would have seen it as a shame, he wouldn’t tell anyone.” Starscream leaned on his love’s chassis. 

“If it was a shame, it was mine.” Optimus sighed, pulling the Seeker close. “I don’t know how you bore it.”

“I had much to live for, and… you kept me through the worst of it. I know that isn’t something you like to hear, but it’s true. For better or worse, we’re stuck together, Optimus, and I won’t kick against it anymore. You’re not the person you used to be.” Starscream comforted him. “I’m not the person I used to be either, but it’s not a bad thing. Being with you, having a glimpse into your side of things, spared me the madness that consumed Megatron and the other leaders. I could be exactly like them, and I don’t want that.”

Optimus looked down at his knees. “But that still means that our relationship was built on a crime, that our bond is an aberration. It isn’t right.”

“No, it isn’t right.” Starscream sighed. “I used to obsess over everything I had lost, that you had literally raped away from me, but I don’t. Not anymore. Because that alley, that monstrous night, even that hot shot cop, is as far as Cyberton from Earth from what you are now. It’s as far as it can be. You made a turn around, you decided to change. You did that, Optimus, and I love you for it. I love you, because you put in the effort to try and fix us, because you were willing to let me go by any means necessary.” Starscream sighed through his nasal vent. “And it wasn’t possible. So, when I saw you taking the steps to become better, I took steps to let go. And here we are.”

Optimus kissed his forehelm. “Thank you, Starscream. Thank you.”

Starscream murmured softly and his wings fluttered. “Knowing what I do now, of who you would be, of what you would become, of what Megatron would become, I would have given myself to you.”

What could you say to something like that? Optimus kissed his mate again, spark pulsing love, apology, and gratitude.

Starscream responded with love of his own, forgiveness, and impatience. “The sparklings have been giving me metal cravings, Optimus. I think you need to step up your game as a donor.” The Seeker moved his codpiece against his mate’s. 

Optimus’s engine revved. “Of course, my dear. How will you have me?” He ran his digits over the Seeker’s razor-edged wings and pinched the pointed tips, eliciting a high squeak from the flyer that almost sounded like displeasure, though Optimus knew better.

Starscream cooed as Optimus ran his digits over the wings, making them sing with vibrations and his modesty panel began to heat up. He sent a series of images across their bond that managed to get the point across as well as revving Optimus up. 

Optimus groaned. “You have such a dirty processor, my Seeker.” He pressed a kiss to the gunmetal lipplates.

“As if you’re any better.” Starscream wiggled his aft in the convoy’s lap. “You’re boiling hot already. Don’t tell me you’re not enjoying this.”

“Oh, I’m enjoying this.” Optimus’s engines growled and he pressed more kisses to Starscream’s lipplates. He dropped his digits to Starscream’s own modesty panel and rubbed small circles into it. “And so are you, from the heat here.”

Starscream hissed a laugh and let the panel move aside and reveal his soft, slicked valve. Normally, he took a little more to get excited, but the sparklings had doubled his sex drive and he needed to “acquire” nanites for their frames. 

Optimus teased the edges of the valve presented, deliberately avoiding the glowing anterior node. “Oh, my, someone’s ready.”

“I’m always ready.” Starscream snapped, trying to drive his hips down onto the Prime’s fingers. “Stop teasing me.”

“But I like teasing you.” Optimus dropped his lipplates to the Seeker’s vent fans, glossa sliding over the nubs in the center and making Starscream whine and squeal. “You’re adorable when you’re frustrated.”

Starscream growled. “If you don’t get on with it, I’ll show you exactly how “adorable” I am.” He rolled his hips unexpectedly and the convoy’s digits sank home against a ring of hidden nodes deep in the Seeker’s valve. “Ah!”

Optimus chuckled and sighed, humming vibrations into the fan he was tormenting. “So impatient…”

Starscream hissed and shifted his weight, throwing it forwards against Optimus’s shoulders all at once while kicking back against the wall near the end of the berth. Surprised, the Prime fell back onto the berth, leaving Starscream on top. The Seeker stared defiantly down at the convoy, daring him to try and get back up.

Optimus chuckled. “Well, well, well… What do we do now?”

Starscream looked down at the Prime’s firmly closed modesty panel and flashed his optics at his mate. “Open up and I’ll show you.”

Optimus didn’t normally smirk, but that expression? That was not a smile. That was not even a smug smile. That was the smuggest smirk that ever smirked. “Try and make me.” He purred.

Starscream’s spark pulsed in excitement and frustration as his optics blazed. A line of white light glowed from between the two halves of his separating cockpit as he revealed his spark. The Seeker pressed the energies against the Prime’s windshield and slid up and down, coaxing them open as he went.

Optimus groaned and pounced on Starscream, panel snapping open and his silver and blue spike slipped free, the red biolights flashing. Pulling the sexy Seeker to his chest, he clasped the slim hips and guided his spike into Starscream’s valve. 

Starscream hissed in pleasure and clenched down around Optimus, making the much larger mech moan and his chestplates pulled back the rest of the way. Prime’s blue-white spark met Starscream’s white-gold in a supernova of pleasure and shared energies. They wrestled together, writhing and pushing forwards and back, chasing overload.

Starscream pitched his helm back and gasped silently as his systems heated. Prime pulled him back down into his embrace and pressed his lips to the Seeker’s. Locked together, they tumbled down into overload, Optimus releasing a wave of transfluid deep into the Seeker’s valve. Starscream gasped as his own overload rocked him and his internals pumped away the transfluid up into his gestation chamber, filtering nanites and delivering them to the metal-hungry sparklings. It was an odd sensation that prolonged the overload and left him shivering on top of his convoy, loosely embracing the Prime, who held him close. 

Optimus’s chestplates slowly closed as he gathered the covers up about himself and his blissed out Seeker mate. He encouraged Starscream’s cockpit to reappear from where it had moved aside and close as well, protecting mate and sparklings both. Leaning his helm on Starscream’s, he sighed as he began to drift off into slumber. It had been too long since they had slept together so many nights in a row. They were closing on two weeks since Starscream had left Megatron’s side. Hopefully, life would remain peaceful. After all, Megatron trying to destroy Optimus was routine.


	32. 4 Million Years Before: Denial

Manners sobbed in front of Orion after the convoy had broken it to the secretary, as gently as he could, that he had been interested in nothing more than a frag-buddy. Now, he was sitting awkwardly at a small table staring at a candle in the center as the grounder cried. 

His spark was twinging at Manner’s misery and his processor was playing an unfortunate game with his spark, telling him all the ways Manners would be an ideal mate. The hurt and rage built up in his chassis until he felt as if he would explode.

Starscream was half-listening, he could feel the Seeker in the back of his spark. He was working on some kind of project for the Decepticons- setting up a safe house of some kind where they could establish a base for the resistance. 

Orion pressed out a command: I want to see you tonight.

Starscream responded with outright refusal: I am not at your command.

Orion sent him an image of Megatron receiving a missive. Starscream responded with an image of Prowl reading a message. They both had plenty of blackmail on each other.

Orion, though, had an ace. He sent Starscream an image of Pharma. The Seeker cursed through the bond and his ascent-mixed with bitter resentment- came through.

Orion paid for the meal and left Manners to cry in peace. 

 

Starscream was waiting for him when he got home. “What do you want?” He snarled.

Orion glared at him. This was the Seeker whose actions had forced him to take drastic steps. He had been responsible for the Senate’s destruction, for the near death of his partner and himself. And for his labors to stop the terrorists, he had ended up shackled to one.

Starscream folded his arms. “Oh, don’t you dare.” He whispered. 

Orion tackled him, servos going to the slender neck. “This is all your fault!”

“I’m not the one who couldn’t keep his spike and spark to himself!” Starscream pulled his knees to his cockpit and kicked Orion off of his chassis. 

“You murdered the Senate and hundreds of innocent mechs working there!” Orion grabbed Starscream’s wing and wrenched it. 

“Yeah, and you raped me and couldn’t even act on the information you gained!” Starscream punched Orion in the faceplates. “Don’t you dare blame this on me!”

“If you hadn’t been such a primus-damned terrorist, I wouldn’t have had to get the information from you.” Orion grabbed his servo and crushed it, popping knuckles out of alignment. 

“If you people weren’t so oppressive and allowed us a voice, we wouldn’t have to resort to terrorism!” Starscream tackled down onto Orion and slammed his thigh into the cop’s interface. 

“We’re oppressive? You’re the damnable servants of chaos who began this war!”

“You leveled Vos! You murdered so many innocents!” 

“You attacked the garrisons at Kaon and Tarn and Praxus!” Orion gripped Starscream and physically threw him onto the berth. Starscream hissed back.

“You raped me! You stole everything I loved from me!” 

“You were going to murder the entirety of the Senate!” Orion thrust a digit into Starscream’s waste port. The Seeker gave a shrill shriek and clawed his sensitive grill. “Thanks to you, I can never have a mate or be bonded to a mech I love!”

“Don’t you dare blame this on me!” Starscream howled as a second digit joined the first. “I was going to be bonded! I was going to be with a mech I loved!”

“Fragging warframes.” Orion bit the Seeker’s vents. “You don’t know the meaning of love.”

“Oh, you didn’t just go there.” Starscream gripped the headboard and took back control, locking his thighs around Orion and turning the mech over. Before Pax knew what was happening, he had shredded into the covers and bound the officer to the berth. The Seeker slammed his valve down onto Orion’s spike and beat at the windshield as it opened, glass cracking.

Orion growled and twisted. “Let me out you fragging Seeker!”

“Not until you see exactly what you’ve stolen from me.” Starscream opened his own cockpit and pressed their sparks together. Memories of dawn weddings in Vos flooded through him: The gorgeous costuming, the singing that spread across the whole city, the regimented rituals and precise cycles. A cycle of mourning that turned into a week of rejoicing. The intricacy of courtship. The blushing smiles, the beautiful days of laughter, and the teasing of aeriemates as two Seekers fell in love. 

All of this, Starscream would be forever denied. He would never have it. Never be able to squirm under humorous rhymes from his trine. Never spend a night grieving his inevitable leaving from his Creator’s nest. Never wake up in the morning to rejoice as dawn spread over Vos and the Marriage Aria spilled through the air like wine. Never lie in a soft berth with a loving partner who had had to prove himself sevenfold to earn the right to his courtship. 

The surge of information- the give and take- the loss- overloaded Pax’s processor. He fell into unconsciousness as overload ripped through his systems, knocking them offline.


	33. Pharma and Kaon: Language Lessons

Pharma hummed down to his cockpit, singing softly to the sparklings within. There were two, his sparklet had split off into twins. 

Kaon was lying beside the Seeker, listening. “Do all Seekers sing?” He questioned.

“Almost all.” Pharma smiled at the memory. “It’s important for social and psychological development.” He soothed his digits across the cockpit. “They’ll sing back. Actually, scans have shown that sparklings sing almost constantly, but we won’t hear them until just before they’re born.”

Kaon blinked his unseeing optics slowly. “That sounds adorable, and inconvenient at the same time. Won’t that make it hard to sleep?”

“As soon as they start singing, it will only be a few cycles to delivery, so who’s going to sleep?” Pharma replied, smiling softly.

Kaon rolled onto his side, EM field brushing against Pharma’s wings. “Do you hate me?”

Pharma took a moment to consider. “No. Maybe I did once, but not anymore.”

“I see. Do you mind if I ask why you don’t?”

“Shouldn’t you know this already?” Pharma still wasn’t adept at filtering.

“I’d like to hear it from you. I don’t want to push too hard into what’s yours.” Kaon replied.

Pharma’s wings shrugged up and down. “You were kind to me when you didn’t have to be. Even if your initial attention was rough and I hated it, you gentled and didn’t cause me pain later. You even went out of your way to make it better for me on the Peaceful Tyranny. I- I don’t know how else to say it.”

Kaon hummed, electricity crackling over his tesla coils. “Tarn gave the order, and I obeyed. It’s the way of the Decepticons. Orders beget order.”

Pharma turned back away and Silron raised its head from its bed in the corner. The bed was new, Kaon had brought it when Pharma began to get hot and cold flashes during the night. Normally, the turbofox laid on the berth with them. The Seeker held out his servo and the turbofox leapt to its paws and rushed to Pharma, laying its muzzle into his digits.

The thing’s drool would have offended the uptight medic’s sensibilities only a half a year before. How things changed.

Kaon reached out and laced an arm around Pharma, pulling the Seeker close by the waist. “Teach me a song.”

Pharma’s wings jerked. “I don’t know if you could sing our melodies. They require a basic understanding of Seeker speech.”

“So teach me.” Kaon pressed a kiss to the Seeker’s hip. “We have time. It’s for the sparklings, anyway, isn’t it? It’s better for them if both parents can sing?”

“Yes… Yes, it is.” Pharma was quiet. “Very well. I’ll start with something simple…”


	34. 4 Million Years Before: A Front

Starscream looked around the nightclub. It was a carefully built front, one that he was extremely proud of. It had been designed to blend in with the rest of the high class Iaconian street and the mechs who “worked” there- himself included- were dressed accordingly. Or not dressed at all as the case might be. 

Starscream had taken to costuming himself as one of the sharewares who populated such clubs. It kept the intended allies off their balance to be so provocatively arrayed and encouraged the casual frags he needed to keep from going insane with extra charge. The method had revealed two double-agents before they could cause harm and would work again.

Orion was vaguely aware of his activities, but after their most recent interface, he was being remarkably distant and considerate. It was quite a relief. Of course, lingering resentment for who Starscream was and what he had done remained, but he was manning up to his own actions at least. Perhaps their travesty of a relationship could become at least civil. It was exhausting to be this angry at someone tied to themselves constantly. 

Starscream looked up as Skywarp waved to him from the back room. There was something that needed his attention. Putting a flirty sway into his hips as he passed tables full of overcharged mechs of every Iaconian frametype, he slid through the curtain of shimmering glass beads. “What is it?”

“We’re having problems with the new shipment. It might have to be delayed.” Skywarp and Thundercracker were helping run guns and armaments into the city while Starscream worked more directly on coordination. 

“Our workers need the shipment, Skywarp. Keep working on it and keep me posted.” Skywarp nodded and headed off into the darkness while Starscream swept back out into the main room.

His reappearance was met with turning helms and coos from several of the Praxians in attendance. Of course, it was time for the dancers to change anyway. The Seeker ascended the stage and pushed the current performer down and into a convoy’s lap. Both dancer and convoy grinned and giggled and the convoy, very drunk, inquired after a lap dance.

Starscream began his set as the music shifted to a jive and the other dancer led the convoy into the privacy booths that lined the club. A few other mechs danced, most had their optics on the Seeker: The Whore of the Decepticons, as Starscream had begun to be called in Autobot circles, though few knew exactly who was on display for them.

Starscream flashed them a grin and spun around the pole, catching a credit chip in his teeth and tucking it into one of the tucks of his armor. There was much applause and more of the chips were tossed.

How he hated them all.


	35. Megatron's Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kudos if you can guess the extent of what Megatron's planning.

Megatron called Tarn and Kaon to him. “I have meditated on the information Pharma brought us and have come to a conclusion. I will be removing Starscream from the List, of course.”

“It is already done, My Lord.” Tarn had placed the Seeker’s name on probation after Pharma’s revelations and sent a comm to instruct Vos to remove it entirely. 

“Excellent. Following that, we must begin a plan to bring the Autobots out and to their knees so that we may rescue our Decepticon brother.” Megatron picked up a datapad. “I believe you, Kaon, should ‘defect’ to the Autobot side with your mate, Pharma.”

Kaon nodded. “If you command, my Lord.”

“They won’t trust you, at least not initially. To encourage the deception, Tarn will have to add you to the List and hunt you accordingly.”

“Of course, my Lord.” Kaon’s expression betrayed his misgivings. “My Lord, I do not mean to question you, but may I remind you that Pharma is pregnant, and I do not wish to expose the sparklings to Autobot conditioning and brainwashing.”

“I trust that you will be able to educate your little ones in the true Decepticon ideal, Kaon. Regardless, when Starscream is returned to us, they will naturally be given the rigorous education and training that a child of my elite deserves.” Megatron assured his excecutioner.

Tarn raised a careful objection. “My Lord, if I may, how is Kaon to bring Starscream away from the Ark? The Seeker’s brainwashing appears to be thorough, as Lazerbeak and Ravage have reported that there appears to be no friction whatsoever between the Prime and Starscream. If he cannot be convinced to come on his own, he will have to be taken by force.”

“Kaon is not going to bring Starscream away, Tarn.” Megatron folded his servos. “I have a different plan in mind for my best servant. In fact, Kaon will not be on the Ark, not as a permanent citizen, at least.”

Kaon leaned in, interested, as Megatron spilled out the rest of his plans.

 

Pharma was sleeping when Kaon came to his berthside. “Wake up.”

Pharma stirred heavily. “Kaon?”

“Wake up. We must leave quickly.” Kaon instructed his mate.

“Why? Is Tarn taking another List Decepticon? Where are we going?”

“To the Autobot base. We’re defecting.” Kaon’s spark was closed to Pharma’s.

“What?!” Pharma exclaimed.

“You and the sparklings will be safer there and we must go at once.” Kaon impressed Pharma with his urgency and the medic was on his pedes, gathering their belongings together and coaxing Silron awake.

Pharma stuttered another few buts and whys, but Kaon shook his helm firmly. “There are some things too horrible for you, Pharma. We go now. Come.”

Pharma took the electric chair’s servo and allowed himself to be pulled out and onto one of Earth’s fertile plains. They rode towards the Ark on a small skiff and Pharma crouched in the bottom of it while Kaon drove. The Seeker was frightened and confused and Kaon gave away nothing.


	36. 4 Million Years Before: Truce

Orion Pax watched Starscream recovering from their latest interfacing session. The Seeker had come in exhausted, but needing the bond to quiet, and had fallen into recharge beside the cop. It was the first time it had happened. 

The convoy rolled onto his front and considered Starscream sleeping beside him. The Seeker was in his normal state, not the costume he wore at the dance club. Reaching out, he touched a wing and gently drew a line along it. For all that he despised what Starscream was- Decepticon, terrorist, agent of unrest- he didn’t know anything about who he was. 

He was beautiful. Orion had never particularly preferred Seeker frames, but Starscream was slender with thick, strong thighs and elegant servos. The mentioned limbs were spattered with lubricant and transfluid in gleaming trails. The Seeker hadn’t bothered to clean up before falling off into recharge. 

Perhaps they could come to some arrangement. It would probably never be perfect love, but did they have to be at war with each other? They were spark-bonded and thoroughly stuck together. It still made Orion angry, but it was his fault.

They had to reach an armistice, or tear each other apart. 

 

Starscream woke to find that Orion had left for his job. The blanket had been pulled up over his frame, though, and there was a cube of energon mixed with coolant and a few drops of mercury on the bedside. He slowly pressed himself up, viewing the cube with suspicion. It was a kindness that he didn’t like to put his trust in. Orion had done nothing but harm in their time together. 

He picked the cube up and dipped his claws in. Tasting a drop of the energon, he found it tasted exactly like it should. Reaching into his spark, he poked at Orion’s until the convoy begrudgingly turned his attention from a recent murder case. A memory- a sound clip- “What?”

Starscream showed him an image of the cube on the bedside. Orion let him have access to his memory of preparing it, showing the exact steps he had gone through. There was nothing wrong with the cube. Starscream sent incredulity. Orion snapped back with a desire to actually converse with the Seeker, free of the demands of the bond. 

Starscream sighed and nodded, marking a day three cycles from then on the convoy’s calendar. It was remarkably civil. The Seeker closed himself off and walked out and into the city. It was a risk to be seen on the streets, but one he had to take. When he was sure no one had followed him, he went home.

He almost expected Thundercracker to be waiting for him, disapproving frown in place. Of course, he wasn’t, but he still almost expected it. He had been out far too long.

“Where were you?” His subordinate- a bartender- named Nautilator questioned. The mech sounded exactly like Megatron. He had been one of Starscream’s few repeat frags for that reason. 

“Gathering information.” Starscream waved it off. “I wasn’t seen coming back.”

Nautilator grunted and continued polishing vessels. “Yes, sir.”

Starscream sashayed into the back of the club to get ready for the evening. They had a strike planned against some Iaconian industry creating weaponry for that night and Starscream was going to lead it. It would be a refreshing breath of actual combat instead of on-the-sly training resistance recruits and dancing for mechs who would throw credits at a pretty Seeker to be revved and go home thinking themselves delightfully deviant for it.

No wonder he felt the constant need to preen when he was in Iacon.


	37. Kaon and Pharma: Defection

Kaon and Pharma stopped outside the Ark and Kaon looked up at the sky. The Autobots were bound to be patrolling or have someone on patrol and they would see them eventually. 

Pharma hugged Kaon’s legs as the mech stood on the skiff. The Seeker, who felt quite sick after all the worry of the previous evening and the subsequent ride, was not up to standing at the moment. Kaon continued to scan the skies and ground until he spotted the Autobot’s little, flying scout above their helms. He waved up at the tiny flier and made sure they were spotted. The tiny airplane almost fell out of the sky when he saw Kaon and went screeching back towards the Ark.

Kaon sat down on the skiff. “Now, we wait.” He looked down at Pharma. “Are you all right?”

Pharma shook his helm. “I feel faint.”

Kaon sighed and looked around. “Are you hungry? What’s the problem?”

“No, Kaon, I’m fine. I just… I just feel faint. It’s the sparklings. It’s fine.” Pharma fanned himself vigorously. He was nearly due: Another month and the sparkling would arrive.

Seeker frames did everything faster than other mechs. They were the equivalent of a slave-frame in growth, meaning they were three times faster to be born, to mature, and to learn, but also three times faster to age and even die. Not that Kaon was worried. If Pharma had lived this long and was still in good health, he likely had several million more vorns before he bit the big one. 

Kaon sighed and put a cooling blanket over Pharma. Silron whined and nuzzled his thigh, drooling on the highly polished metal. Say what one would about the medic, he kept himself in the best condition he could.

Pharma stroked Silron’s ears. “Kaon, what if the Autobots try to kill you?”

“They won’t. You’re with me.” Kaon pointed out. “Optimus Prime always wants to talk before he fights.”

Pharma nodded. “If you say so. I still don’t really understand why we’re here.”

Kaon frowned at the horizon. “Megatron commanded me to terminate the sparklings.” He finally stated. “He thinks you would be too Autobot an influence. I’m just getting you out of the way.”

Pharma gasped and hugged himself. “But you’ll be put on the List.”

“I might.” Kaon looked down at his mate. “But you’ll live.” He reached down and took the Decepticon sigil on Pharma’s chest, prying it off. The Autobot badge beneath had been scratched through, but still stared, stalwart. “Besides, without me, Tarn will have to do three times the work he does to find his targets and I know the DJD. I can avoid them.”

Pharma nodded. “Kaon… You aren’t coming with me, are you?”

Kaon sat back up on the skiff and looked off into the distance. “No, I’m not. But I won’t leave you bereft. I’ll be in the area, and I’ll take care of you. I’m just a thought away.” Kaon tapped his chestplate. “Besides, you’ll have the Pet.”

“But… How will you get around without Silron?” Pharma questioned softly. “I know you know the Nemesis by spark, but this is Earth, the wilderness.”

“I got along just fine for vorns without Sil- The Pet.” Primus, now the silly little medic had him doing it. “He isn’t my guide so much as my friend.”

Pharma nodded and hugged the turbofox. In the distance, a convoy, several sports cars, and a familiar, tricolor jet approached. Kaon stood up and held his servos in the air. Pharma stood up as well, clutching the cool cloth around his frame and shivering as he looked up at the aeriemate he intended to save. But if Megatron had ordered his sparklings’ death, what could he believe anymore?

Starscream landed and transformed into root mode, as did Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ironhide, and Rodimus. It was quite impressive, Kaon reflected. Starscream and Pharma recognized each other at once and Pharma ran to his aeriemate. They embraced, purring and chittering in Seeker speech. Kaon picked up the odd word as Optimus Prime approached. “Kaon of the Decepticon Justice Division?”

“It’s just Amp now, Optimus Prime. I’ve abandoned my post.” Kaon replied. He looked over at Starscream and Pharma, who were speaking very quickly to each other. “I can imagine you know why I’m here.”

Optimus turned to Starscream. The Seeker looked up and then around. “Pharma says Kaon- Amp- brought him here to be safe from Megatron. He’s with sparkling, Optimus, and will deliver soon.”

Optimus nodded. “I see. And you, Amp?”

“I’m not going to defect. I may be persona non-grata, but I’m not giving up the sigil. I believe in the ideals of the Decepticons.” Amp folded his arms. “I’ll be around. When Pharma needs me, I’ll come to him, but otherwise, you won’t see me. It would be safer for him and the sparklings.”

Optimus nodded. “Very well then. Pharma will be well cared for. When you wish to come, I assume he can give us warning so that we can keep you under surveillance.”

Kaon nodded and took the skiff’s controls. Silron leapt out of the vehicle and went to Pharma, whining. The blind mech turned to his mate and called out in Seeker, which surprised the mechs arrayed. Pharma turned and nodded to Kaon, waving as he drove off towards the mountains. He would build a refuge there.

It was too easy.


	38. 4 Million Years Before: Peace Talks

Starscream was sitting on the berth when Orion arrived home three nights later. “What do you want, Pax?” The Seeker’s legs and arms were crossed. 

Orion pulled up a chair. “An armistice.” He sighed and placed his servos on his knees, trying to look non-threatening. “Some form of agreement between us.”

“Agreement? Armistice?” Starscream hissed poisonously. “Where was your armistice when you held me down and forced me open?”

“I did what I thought was right at the time. I believed I could save lives. I still believe that. But that’s not the point, Starscream.” Orion cupped his optics. “The point is, we’re both stuck together. We need to come to some kind of agreement or spend the rest of our lives miserable until one of us ends up killing the other or themselves.”

Starscream hissed. “I couldn’t care less about your happiness.”

“The feeling is mutual, sweetspark, but I care about mine, and I imagine you care about yours.”

Starscream’s wings flicked. “You really know nothing about me, do you? You took everything from me, Orion Pax, and all the sweets in the world can’t replace it.”

“Then why haven’t you killed me?” Orion challenged. Starscream’s burning gaze wavered. “That’s right: You’re not done living. You want to see Cybertron free and raised to whatever pedastel you imagine before you die.” It wasn’t an ideal way to convince a possibly suicidal Seeker to agree to a peace. “But you don’t have to go without creature comforts. You don’t have to sell yourself out to keep your charge down. I know that bothers you, Whore of the Decepticons.”

Starscream’s helm had slowly tilted forwards as he studied his servos. Orion could see his optics dimming in pain, though the Seeker had closed his spark off.

“You don’t deserve that title, you know it and I do, but you’re stuck with it now, just like we are.” Orion stood, careful not to loom over the smaller mech, and knelt beside him. “We can come to some kind of an agreement, can’t we?”

Starscream was crying. Coolant was running out of his optics. Orion didn’t dare touch him for fear of breaking whatever spell was keeping the Seeker from leaving. “I don’t want this. I didn’t want to be bonded to you. I didn’t want to have to suffer like this.” He looked at Orion dead in the optics. “I don’t think I’ll ever be afraid of pain or death again after this. I know the meaning of the words now.”

Orion waited as the Seeker cleared his vents in a deep sob. 

“I just don’t want to hurt anymore.” The Seeker admitted. “But I don’t see how I can be at peace with you ever. You did this to us. We’re trapped, prisoners in a cage that you built.”

“I built it, Starscream.” Orion agreed. “Bar by bar, I built it, and I am sorry this happened. But if we can’t be at peace, or something like it, then there’s nothing. We’ll both go mad and die hating each other to the last straw.”

“And what’s the alternative? Not even you can have the bearings to ask me to love you.”

“No, but I have the bearings to ask you to stop fighting me at least. I swear, Starscream, from this moment onwards that I won’t fight you.”

Starscream stared at him. “I can’t decide if you’re crazy or just stupid.”

“I can’t either.” Pax admitted. “But it’s worth a shot.”

So, Iacon’s famed Hero Cop and the Decepticon’s Whore hammered out an agreement between the two of them. It was far from perfect and there was plenty of give for shouting matches and other impassioned disagreements using fists as evidence. Still, they began to work together, each catching glimpses of the other’s work and using it to their advantage. It was going to become a game. A period in this pre-galactic war, wherein the most famous conflict was marked by their moves. 

Before Megatron Vs. Optimus Prime, Starscream Vs. Orion Pax was playing.


	39. Pharma and Starscream: Aeriemates

Starscream led Pharma through the base. “It’s not the ideal.” He was still speaking Seeker to Pharma. “I have to stay in the brig, but you’ll be given quarters outside of it.”

“Why are you in the brig?” Pharma questioned as they walked together. Silron was at his ankles, growling at passersby. He couldn’t help but notice that the red Autobot frontliner, Sideswipe, was escorting them. “Aren’t you the Prime’s bonded? Does he treat you so ill still?”

“No, Pharma.” Starscream nuzzled his aeriemate’s chevron. “It isn’t like that at all. It was my idea to stay in the brig. Optimus kept me a secret from his men, and they don’t trust me because of who I was when I stood with Megatron.”

Pharma chirped in understanding. “Oh.”

“And Optimus is staying with me. Believe me, it’s wearing Prowl down. Soon, he’ll allow me to wander freely if only so that Optimus will sleep in his own quarters. You see? He’s been doing his best for me.” Starscream placed his servos over his spark chamber. “And with the sparklings, it’s better for me to be out of the way of gung-ho ‘bots like Sideswipe and Ironhide.”

Pharma peeped in surprise, wings jumping as he teeked his aeriemate.

Starscream laughed and nodded. “Me too.”

Pharma touched his spark chamber as well. “I have two. And you?”

“Four. I watched the sparklet splitting. It was beautiful.”

“I didn’t get to see mine split. I’d like to have a scan taken, if I could.”

“Of course, I’m sure Ratchet will be glad to see you, even if you are mated to Kaon now…” Starscream frowned. “How did that come about?”

Pharma turned his faceplates resolutely forwards. “It seems we are all but siblings in this as well, Starscream. Your fate has become my own.”

Starscream froze and turned. “You don’t mean to say…? Why, that brute!” He turned about to go and find Optimus at once. “When I get my servos on him, he’s going to be missing more than his optics!”

Pharma gripped Starscream’s arm. “No, Starscream. We were both forced into this, and he has been nothing but kind to me since then.”

Starscream turned reluctantly back to Pharma. “That does not ken with what I know of Kaon.”

“He would surprise you.” Pharma assured. “And he loves the very idea of a sparkling. It makes sense then… that he would send me here if they were threatened.”

Starscream placed his servos on Pharma’s shoulder kibble. “They will not be harmed. You will see, they will be treasured.” He showed him into the cell he inhabited. “Optimus will see that you get a room, but for a few cycles, you can stay with me and rest. You look exhausted.”

“I feel as bad as I look.” Pharma sank down. “It’s been a hard carrying.”

“It is almost over and you will have them in your arms.” Starscream assured Pharma. His optics became distant. “I admit, I am nervous for mine as well.”

“You have time yet to go in yours.” Pharma teeked again. “Four months.”

Starscream nodded and they regarded each other. The Seekers settled down on the berth together to rest, remembering how they used to curl up together in the pile that their cousins and siblings all made together. Their spark beats were still strong and familiar and they went to recharge with ease. They were strong in numbers.


	40. 4 Million Years Before: Seeker Dance

Prowl and Jazz had grown used to Orion being a little strange as the war raged on. For one, he had become obsessed with the Decepticons and exposing them topped his priority list. For another, he had been taking up with odd mechs for a short time each. Always tricolor mechs, which Jazz said was weird. Prowl didn’t particularly care about Orion’s interfacing habits. What he did care about was why Orion was dragging them to a high-class grease affair where mechs went to rev up watching exotic frames dance, entirely exposed, and drink cut-rate engex at top-rate prices.

“I don’t see why you want to go to this club.” Jazz commented to Orion. “I know a ton of better ones.”

“The High Thruster is good enough. Besides, I have other reasons.” Orion smirked and nodded as they passed what appeared to be a standard busting team. A group of police officers who would come from behind and raid an establishment.

Jazz raised his optical ridges. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“The High Thruster is a hive of Decepticon activity and I’ve heard that Air Commander Starscream is here specifically.” Orion had been planning this for awhile. Starscream had dragged him out, giving him an initial hint and then nothing more as he stumbled, looking for clues. It had been three months since he had gotten the initial glimpse in the Seeker’s spark. Of course, by now the High Thruster had worn out its usefulness, limiting the target’s value, but it would still be an impressive take. 

And there was the alternate bonus that his finally solving the puzzle and his plans for the raid would both irritate and amuse his bonded. This private war that they were fighting between them was a delicate balance between too far and too little. Orion was still sure that Starscream would rather kill himself than allow the spark bond to become a detriment to his cause, but his dedication to freedom and choice for all beings gave him a slight sympathy to Orion’s plight- having information and not being able to use it was frustrating. Further, he was seeing glimpses in Orion’s spark of things that would help the Decepticons and “Courtesan”- his codename among the resistance- was a sharp thorn in High Command and the Police’s side.

“Air Commander Starscream, huh?” Jazz nodded, looking thoughtful. “Seriously cool cat that one. It would be fun to match wits directly. I suppose I’m here to scope the back and look for signs of foul play before you call in the Wrecking Crew?”

“Exactly.” Orion agreed. “Try and look for documents or datapads.”

“Probably won’t be anything particularly useful, but I’ll do my best. Thing, though, if this is really a nest, then it might not be so good to kick around in the back of it and disturb the Seeker. Least, not without back-up.”

“I’ll be keeping Starscream occupied.” Orion assured Jazz. “I’ve scoped the place before and I know which one of the dancers he is. You just need to waltz in and waltz back out.”

Prowl nodded. “And myself?” Jazz slunk off into an alley. He would find another way in than through the door.

“You’re just here to keep me company and keep the Decepticons from thinking twice about a pair of cops coming to watch the show.” Orion explained. 

“I see. Of course, if you’ve been here before, they know you and might be ready for something. You have a reputation.” Prowl warned.

“Oh, the entry fee isn’t so bad and the view is worth it.” Orion replied nonsensically as they came within hearing range of the bouncer, a huge tank named Brawl. “Hello, Brawl, two please.”

“Hey, Hero Cop.” Brawl accepted the entry fee and they entered the dance club. Prowl was mentally cursing himself for talking about something that might tip off the bouncer that close to the club. As soon as they were in, Prowl’s optics widened. While he hadn’t been expecting to be disappointed, he also hadn’t been expecting to have most of his raunchy fantasies fulfilled within moments of walking through the door. There were gorgeous frames everywhere!

Of course, his Jazz would have been finer than any of these shareware, but they were still easy to appreciate. The two mechs walked up to the bar and ordered drinks, taking them to a table near the dance floor and the stage. Two slim mechs were dancing. Like the rest of the shareware hanging about, they had clear glass partitions over their open chestplates and similar coverings over their arrays. Sparklight was the majority lighting in the dim dance club.

A great deal of the workers had lacy and provocative fabrics hanging off of their seams and they glittered with polished paint and oiled seams. It was, for all that, a fairly standard club. The two officers spent about half a cycle enjoying themselves and drinking their drinks before the curtains at the back of the stage parted and Starscream strolled out.

Orion sat back in his chair and murmured to Prowl. “Now the real fun begins.”

Starscream was wearing a nearly modest garment over his chassis and modesty panels. Orion reached out to brush the Seeker’s spark with his own. Starscream’s spark smacked his away with an image of a shaking finger. “No, no!”

Orion had come to appreciate Starscream’s uniquely elegant frame in the months that had followed their armistice. The bob and flutter of his wings- currently decorated with a magnetic strip of tasseled edging- that indicated his moods and desires. The turn of his raised pedes and the shape of his legs. They were unique to Seekers. 

Starscream pushed the two dancers who had been working off of the stage. It was a common gimmick of his, forcing them to wiggle through the crowds, dodging servos and answering the demands for a lap dance. In all fairness, Starscream usually ended his set by sliding down into someone’s lap directly- using them as a step stool to get to the floor, and then he stayed out, watching the club and walking the floors, attending to the business of the day.

That and he wouldn’t have been able to push the two the way he did- with one servo at once- if they hadn’t been ready to get down.

“That’s him?” Prowl mouthed as Starscream began unlooping the garment’s straps from around his shoulders. Sparklight glowed from beneath the collar.

“That’s him.” Orion confirmed in a low tone. “I’ll keep him distracted after the floor show. You wait until Jazz shows up again and then call in the Crew.”

Prowl nodded and sipped his drink, optics locked on the Seeker. A small part of his mind was wondering if Jazz would look half that good in a garment like that and whether he should get one for him.

Starscream wiggled out of the short skirt in a full body motion that had more optics on him than any other dancer. Orion kept feeling out to get a sense of the Seeker’s spark and found it surprisingly blocked off. Normally, the Seeker didn’t bother to hide his emotions, since Orion could glean little useful information from them. It was making him nervous. Did the Seeker know something he didn’t?

Of course, he had expected Starscream to know there was a raid coming, just as he expected the Seeker to put on a good show when the rest of the crew showed up and then to slip away along with most of the actual Decepticons.

Starscream took a pole like a professional and spent a whole cycle on the stage before sliding off directly into Orion’s lap. Orion allowed his servos to wander a little below the table. There was an unguarded moment when Starscream’s optics faded slightly and he knew something was wrong.

It was only in the privacy of a booth, having a “lap-dance” that had so far consisted of three kisses on gunmetal grey lips and a pair of servos resting on the pert aft- that he could show concern. “Has something happened?” Orion murmured. 

There was a flare of resentment in the Seeker’s optics. “You would ask that.” He hissed. “You brought a friend? Seriously? You showed me off like shareware!”

“I had to bring Prowl here and I always take that table. It would have been suspicious to break the pattern.” Orion reminded Starscream.

“You didn’t have to flip a credit chip to me.” Starscream referred to what had become his signature catch between his dentas. Orion was willing to admit that that had been excessive. “I’m not your pet.”

“I never said you were.” Before they could discuss it further, the Wrecking Crew arrived and they made a good show of struggling with each other before Starscream landed an unnecessarily hard blow to Orion’s modesty panel and faceplate and escaped. 

Of course, it wasn’t over. The Seeker’s spark remained resolutely blocked and Orion feared he had dreadfully over-stepped the boundaries of their game.


	41. Morning Light

Optimus returned to the cell where Starscream was still forced to stay. Most of his personal nick-nacks had migrated there along with a great deal of blankets and pillows. Seekers did love their berths to be soft. 

Starscream and Pharma were curled up in a pile of said coverings. Optimus reflected that it was common for relatives and friends to recharge together in such piles, to share warmth and for comfort. Seekers were a social frametype. The Prime gingerly sat on a clear section of the berth and tried to figure out how he could join them without disturbing the two Carriers. He didn’t want to rest his weight on either of them and couldn’t lift them up without waking them. The grounder carefully brought his pedes up and curled up beside the ball of covers. Gently, he tugged one over himself and let his optics flutter shut. 

When he came out of recharge some time during the nightcycle, his tanks were grumbling and he wanted to reach for one of the cubes of energon that were kept in a small cooler across the room, near the washracks. However, when he tried to move, he found himself buried in the ball of covers and Seekers. Clearly, there had been some rearranging while he was in recharge.

He resettled himself. The two Seekers on top of him were purring in content and Starscream was curled up with his faceplates wedged into the convoy’s neck. He could deal with a slightly growly tank.

In the morning, Pharma and Starscream stretched their wings and woke slowly. It was a bit disorienting at first, both of them had dreamed of being in Vos, sleeping in the aerie. However, once Starscream realized that he had his helm in Optimus’s neckcables, he recognized where he was.

“Get up, Pharma. We slept through the night.” He bumped the other Seeker with his helm.

Pharma stretched his curving wings and sat up, realized who was in the berth with them, and his wings perked. “My apologies.” He scrambled off of Optimus. “I did not mean to overstep.”

“It is of no matter. You meant no harm.” Starscream glided off the bed. “When Optimus wakes, he will probably show you to your new quarters.”

Pharma nodded and patted his spark chamber. “And yet, you will have to stay here.”

Starscream nodded. “It is the price we pay.”

“I intend to stay in the brig for as long as you must.” Pharma decided. “You are my aeriemate and I owe you loyalty.”

“Oh, Pharma, there’s really no need.” Starscream sighed. “But thank you for your solidarity.”

“There is every need. I need to be close to my aeriemate. My due date is drawing near and hearing multiple voices, singing more complex songs, is important. Kaon did his best, but he is no Seeker and will never sing like one.”

Starscream privately agreed. “Very well. I will enjoy your company when Optimus cannot be here. It does wear on a frame.”

“I would be glad to keep you company.” Pharma agreed and smiled. “Perhaps we can get some thread and beads.”

Starscream laughed. “Perhaps we can.”


	42. 4 Million Years Before: Megatron Moves On

Starscream was sitting on the berth when Orion came home. The convoy grabbed a chair and pulled it into place instead of embracing the Seeker immediately. They stared at each other for a few long moments and Orion felt Starscream’s control slipping as they regarded each other. He felt the Seeker’s deep melancholy and shame. This couldn’t all be because he had brought Prowl and teased the Air Commander in front of him, could it?

Starscream lowered his optics first. The Seeker almost always “lost” their staring contests these days.

Orion took the lowering as his cue to speak. “Are you all right, Starscream?”

The Seeker shook his helm. “Of course not, Orion. I will never have that luxury again. You should know this: I hover somewhere between rock bottom and passable.”

Orion pressed his lipplates together beneath his mask. “You feel better when the Decepticons have a victory.”

“It is a signal that the Cause is advancing. Of course I feel better then.” 

“But what caused this most recent down-shift?” Orion questioned. “It started before the raid at the club, so that can’t be it. Not all of it anyway.”

“I received a communique from Lord Megatron telling me that I was correct: Soundwave is an ideal mate for our Lord.” Starscream explained. “I suppose it was supposed to let me know that he had moved on, that he would be all right, but I wasn’t ready to hear it.”

“I thought Megatron didn’t like Soundwave because he was too much of a yes-man.” Orion questioned. 

“He didn’t.” Starscream miserably replied. “But something must have changed his processor.”

Orion didn’t know what to say. He laid a servo gently on Starscream’s wing. “Is that everything?”

Starscream nodded, but his spark remained closed and Orion suspected there was more that Starscream simply wasn’t going to tell him.


	43. Soundwave: Garbage

Megatron and Soundwave had been berthmates since long before the war moved onto a galactic level. In fact, if Soundwave remembered correctly- and he knew he did- they had been berthmates for almost four million years. In all that time, he had never seen Megatron so angry as he had been when Pharma revealed Starscream’s bond to Optimus Prime. 

Megatron, for obvious reasons, didn’t want his second’s condition to be common knowledge. The mech still loved the Seeker, even after so long, and his taste for justice had been reignited. 

Soundwave would be at his shoulder, of course, no matter what the tank former chose to do, but he couldn’t help but be melancholy as he lay beside his leader. It had been an honor to be chosen when Starscream wandered away from their master. Naturally, Soundwave resented the idea that he- the most loyal of all Decepticons- was going to be replaced by a screechy, scrabbling little Seeker. 

He feared that Lord Megatron saw only a memory of Starscream and not the truth anymore. Even were Starscream not Optimus Prime’s bonded, he was still treacherous and lecherous. How Megatron still wanted him when he had been with every original Decepticon, his own Seekers a glaring exception, was beyond Soundwave. There wasn’t anything between the Seeker’s thighs that merited exploration. Unlike Soundwave who had saved his seals for vorns to give to Megatron specifically.

Starscream was garbage, pure and simple. Garbage that had some tacky sentimental value, that could perhaps be polished and fixed-at an effort not worth the end result, but garbage nevertheless. You either burned or recycled garbage.

Soundwave knew what he would prefer to do with Starscream.


	44. 4 Million Years Ago: Trigger Warning: Suicide Attempt

Orion was sitting up to read a novel late in the evening. It was a cycle to his next visit from Starscream and the Seeker’s spark was still remarkably closed off. It was beginning to genuinely worry the convoy. It wasn’t as if it mattered what the Seeker was doing, really, but there was a likelihood that his spark would snuff if the Seeker’s did.

For the first time in a decacycle, there was a shudder across the bond. A shudder of pain and despair. Physical pain, but unaccompanied by the adrenaline, the thrill of battle. And the despair… It was a pit Orion dared not tread in. 

He jolted to his pedes and there was a burst of triumph suddenly as he felt energon running out of his veins, but only distantly. It was like hearing through a filter, unable to be made out in its entirety. There was a scramble of panic and fear across his processor, which only fed the triumph that exuded even in what had to be the ultimate loss. 

Orion reached out to Starscream, begging him to reconsider. He felt himself overheating as coolant poured out of his lines, but again, it was distant. The Seeker only laughed convulsively. 

Orion vented deeply and calmed the terror skidding through him. Firmly, he commanded Starscream to give him a location. The Seeker was angry now that Orion had robbed him of the terror some twisted portion had wished to instill in him. Of course, he refused. The anger gave way to the suffocating calm of despair and Orion knew he would get nothing more.

It took roughly a quarter of a cycle for a Grounder to bleed out through slits in the wrists. Flyers took longer with the energon that cycled through their wings, but it wasn’t much longer. Maybe five klicks.

If he wanted to keep Starscream alive, he had to find him fast. 

Fortunately, Pharma’s apartment was a three klick drive. 

Pharma opened the door slowly. “Orion Pax…”

Orion leaned forwards. “Where would Starscream go if he wanted privacy to do something horrible to himself?”

Pharma gasped and his wings flared. “I don’t know… A hotel, or an apartment… Or anywhere in Iacon, really. Anywhere with an oil bath.”

Orion hissed. “That’s not helpful. Is there anything you can give me specifically?”

Pharma took a precious klick to think of it. “Our student flat. I would go there.” Pharma whispered. He grabbed his medical kit. “I’ll take you there.”

The flat was deserted and derelict, but even then Orion knew it was far too poor to have ever been a student flat. At least, not for any student he had ever known. Still, the scent of energon and spilled coolant was in the air. They had five klicks left when they burst through the washrack door. 

Starscream lay limp in the tub, surrounded by trickles of purple and pink. The gashes were deep and thick. Pharma knelt beside it and gripped the Seeker’s wrist, beginning to push the veins and tubes back together. Orion took the other one, applying direct pressure to the gash. It felt like it went all the way to the central strut. 

Pharma meant the veins back together with a fluidity of motion that Orion had never seen, not even in Ratchet. And this was off-the-cuff surgery. He could only imagine how good Pharma was in a hospital.

He prioritized, closing each vein in turn and then pulling the armor back together, soldering a fine seam. It looked like just another piece in the armor when he was done. No one would know it was a scar.

“Is he safe?” Orion’s spark was prickling. It might have been because Starscream was unconscious, but he simply didn’t know. There was no frame of reference for what felt like a partner’s death and what felt like simply “out to lunch.”

“He should be. I think we made it in time.” Pharma pulled out a live-valve donor tube and connected it to Starscream. “Couple pints of live energon anyway.”

“I’m a universal donor.” Orion offered. 

“Starscream has a V-type energon.” Pharma shook his helm. “Yours might tip him over if he has to convert it.”

Orion nodded and sat helplessly as the Seeker medic drained off two pints of energon into the other. Finally, he sat back on his heels and turned to Orion. “We need to get out of here. We’re technically trespassing and… I don’t think you want your police friends to see this.”

“No, I don’t.” Orion nodded. “I have a trailer. We just have to get him down to the street and up to my apartment without being seen.”

“That’s going to be easier said than done.”

“Can you make a distraction?” Orion lifted Starscream out of the oil bath, cupping the delicate Seeker to his chassis. 

“Of course I can.” Pharma resignedly agreed. “Crazy Seeker, all it will cost me is some reputation.”

Orion nodded. “I’ll take the back stairs. Meet me at my apartment. I’ll need your help to get him up.”

Pharma agreed and went to the wide window, pitching himself out into the night. Orion went down the back stairs and looked down at the wreck in his arms. This wasn’t right.

They couldn’t live like this.


	45. Pharma and Starscream: Then and Now

Pharma took a cell adjacent to the one Starscream was sharing with Optimus. They were private cells, which meant that they were particularly secure habsuites, complete with an excellent washracks.

Pharma moaned as warm water and solvent cascaded over his frame. On the Peaceful Tyranny, the hot water was rationed strictly. He had born the pains of carrying without being able to soak up warmth and feel the solvent rinse everything out of his seams. Silron had been his sole comfort, a warm teddy when he had no other way to get the heat he craved. Starscream was halfway through his carrying. He was only beginning to crave warmth.

Speaking of Silron, the turbofox was as pleased as Pharma at the water, yipping happily and nuzzling the flyer. Pharma ran his claws in its seams, preening the animal. Kaon’s spark was quiet as usual, and distant. He reached out and received an almost absent, soothing stroke. Kaon had taken refuge in a cavern nearby and set up a solar energon converter. He would survive, avoid attention, and hopefully, be available when Pharma began to birth his sparklings.

Starscream was lying on his front on the berth when Pharma returned, sitting down on a nearby chair. “It’s been a very long time, Pharma.” Starscream murmured. “Much has changed. I imagine you have many questions.”

“I do. Starting with why you are so… so happy. When I came, I expected to find you bound by something. Have you truly forgiven him, moved on?” Pharma questioned.

Starscream nodded slowly. “Don’t mistake me, Pharma. I will never forget what Orion Pax did to me. But Optimus Prime is not Orion Pax. Optimus Prime is a noble, kind, even-tempered mech that I am proud to call my bondmate and my true love.”

Pharma frowned. “Are they not one and the same?”

“No, they aren’t at all. Orion Pax was… was bad-tempered and angry. He hated me, he hated the Decepticons, because we killed people he knew, upset his city. Optimus Prime is as far from that as possible: He loves me. He loves his men, but he doesn’t hate the Decepticons. Orion Pax couldn’t see things from two sides. He only saw the law and the law breaker. Optimus Prime sees everything. He saw what the Vosnians and the warframes went through, he sees Megatron’s madness, and he brings that perspective to his dealings with the world.” Starscream sighed, waved a servo. “I’m sorry, Pharma. I don’t mean to lecture. What about you and yours?”

Pharma shifted slightly. “Kaon was ordered to bond to me by Tarn. It was forceful and unpleasant… and I was very afraid at first, but he treated me well and kept me safe and as comfortable as he could. He gave me Silron, his own turbofox, and didn’t treat me badly. I don’t love him, and he’s distant, but I don’t hate him.”

“I would hope not.” Starscream sighed and nuzzled Pharma. “You two are stuck together for life now. I hate to say it, but there’s no going back.”

Pharma nodded and whimpered. “I- I’m just glad it isn’t Tarn, Starscream. I thought, I was afraid, that he would take me himself. I don’t like him. I don’t trust him. At least I can trust Kaon.”

“That’s a good start.” Starscream stroked Pharma’s back. 

Pharma shuddered and shook as Starscream held him. “I’m afraid still, Star. What if Tarn comes for me and the sparklings to get to Kaon? He’d do it. He’s vicious.”

“Tarn won’t get within a kilometer of this base and your sparklings. Optimus would never allow it.” Starscream firmly stated. “Just relax. Think of your babies. Have you thought of any names?”

Pharma allowed the change in topic and they began discussing speculations over the two Seekerlets. The scans had revealed both were the specialized flyers with generators and coils of their own. They were going to inherit Kaon’s electric control at least.


	46. 4 Million Years Ago: The Preening Ceremony

Orion Pax was reading about Seekers when Starscream began to come around. Citing an injury, he had stayed home from work that day to make sure he could be there for the Air Commander.

After Starscream had revealed a glimpse into his culture, Orion had been forced to research the Seekers and their city. They were a fascinating frame-type. The longer he read about them, the more he wanted to. Of course, half of it was ridiculous, but at least it was fascinating. 

Starscream stirred and blinked up at Orion’s ceiling. With a low moan, he covered his faceplates. “No… I’m still here.”

“Not for lack of trying.” Orion stood and sat on the berth beside the Seeker. “Are you going to tell me what tipped you over?”

Starscream was silent for a long moment. Then, his cockpit separated and his spark, white and intense, was revealed. Orion looked more closely and saw a spark of color whizz past in its orbit: A small, blue sparklet. “It’s staying.” The Seeker told him. 

Orion bent close and his optics brightened. “It’s beautiful.”

Starscream slowly closed his cockpit. “I don’t want to bring a sparkling into whatever this is. It wouldn’t be good for it.”

“So you were going to kill yourself?” Orion shook his helm. “That doesn’t make sense, Starscream.”

Starscream was silent. “I don’t want to live like this.”

Orion gently took his servo. “Me neither. Something has to change.” He stroked the knuckles. “But I refuse to accept that your death is the price.”

“We will be locked together until one of us dies. Isn’t it worth the risk to be free?” Starscream begged. “I can’t do this. I can’t live with someone who hates me in my spark.”

Orion cupped the servo his face and kissed it. “Neither can I. But I think… I believe, that if we tried, if we left our factions and our prejudices out of this, that we can make this work. It would be more than a little difficult, but I believe we can do it.” He raised a servo to Starscream’s faceplates and accepted the flinch he received as he softly stroked the cheekplate. “And I swear, Starscream, I will never raise a servo against you again.”

Starscream shook slightly with repressed sobs. His spark was still wide open and Orion had to shutter himself partially to keep from being swept away in the emotions the Seeker was experiencing. He barely nodded, but it was enough. The Seeker was on board.

 

They had a preening ceremony, which was the true Vosnian marriage ceremony, with only Pharma to attend and witness. Starscream cycled his comms so that his old compatriots couldn’t reach him. Orion knew it hurt the Seeker, but it was necessary or the Air Commander would be badgered with messages.

Pharma owned a veil woven from gold threads with crystal beads. He gently bunched it at the back of Starscream’s helm and lay the trailing end over his faceplates.

Orion didn’t have claws to preen with like Starscream did. He had to use his digit’s tips. Starscream reached into his seams with his razor claws and ran the very tips over the convoy’s cables and wires beneath. Orion’s engine purred against him.

Pharma kissed both on the helm and left them alone to consummate their true marriage.


	47. Lightwing and Shockbreak

Starscream and Pharma were lying together on the berth in the Seeker’s cell. Starscream sighed, stretched his wings, and nuzzled into Pharma’s shoulder vent. The medic wiggled slightly, but relaxed soon afterwards. Kaon had visited the base twice since he had delivered Pharma and the twins were due any moment. 

Starscream was still confined to the brig and it looked like he would be for a while yet, but Prowl was weakening slowly.

Pharma hummed softly to himself and trilled three notes to his sparklings. Suddenly, there was a soft chirp back. It was joined by another chirp, then the chirps became a soft, babyish melody.

Starscream’s wings straightened in surprise. The flyers slowly sat up and Starscream pressed an audial to Pharma’s cockpit to better hear the song. His spark thrilled. “Pharma, do you hear that?”

Pharma’s faceplates looked like they might come apart, he was smiling so hard. “Yes, yes, I do.” 

Starscream reached out to his bonded, pushing forwards memories from their shared experiences with Pharma and their discussions over their sparklings. Optimus responded with surprise and thrill, an image of Ratchet and sickbay. Starscream agreed and came back to himself. “Pharma, Optimus says to go to medbay. Come on, let’s go.”

Pharma stood up at Starscream’s insistence and they went to the door of the cell. Starscream pressed the release code into the panel on the inside of the door and it opened. Sideswipe, on the other side, looked up in surprise and raised his weapon. “Go back inside, Starscream, and keep your servos where I can see them.”

Starscream met the red front-liner’s optics. “It’s all right, Sideswipe. We’re just going to the medbay. Pharma’s about to have his sparklings.” Pharma’s servo clenched Starscream’s. The twins sang on, unaware.

Sideswipe looked between them, but his optics continued to focus on Starscream’s Decepticon sigils on his wings and Pharma’s scarred Autobot sigil. “Go back inside. I’ll call it up to Prowl.”

“Sideswipe.” Starscream sighed. “Haven’t I earned some trust? I haven’t protested this, and I won’t. I’ll return to my cell right after this, no problem, but right now, I need to take Pharma to medbay.”

Sideswipe’s plating alternately flared and flattened as he warred with himself. 

Pharma squeezed Starscream’s servo harder. “It’s okay.” He whispered. “I can go alone, then Optimus can bring you…”

Starscream squeezed the servo back. “It’s all right. Come on, Sideswipe, you want to see something you’ll never forget?”

The frontliner’s lipplates twitched slightly as he almost chuckled. “Not on your life, though I wouldn’t mind a peek after the energon stops flying.” Sideswipe lowered the rifle. “All right, but if Prowl catches wind of this, Prime gave me a comm before I let you out, okay?”

“Okay.” Starscream chirped and the red Praxian fell in behind the Seekers, escorting them to the medbay where Ratchet was working on some samples of cosmic rust.

“The sparklings are coming?” Ratchet looked up from Perceptor’s alt-mode and straightened. “Thanks, Perceptor.”

Perceptor transformed and nodded. “Until next time, Ratchet.”

Ratchet helped Pharma up onto a table. “Here we go. You know what to do, Pharma. Just follow your instincts. I assume the Creator is en route.”

“Yes.” Pharma smiled. Kaon’s spark was growing closer, he could feel it. “He’ll be here in a cycle or so.”

“I hope he’s fast.” Ratchet was setting up a scanner. “Looks like you’re coming along nicely. The pods… No, a pod. Not only twins, but identicals.” He nodded, looking impressed. “That’s rather rare.”

“They have an extraordinary Carrier.” Starscream nodded, wings fluttering. His own sparklings were turning over and over as they moved in his tank. He could feel them at it. 

Pharma stroked his cockpit, trilling and chirping to the Seekerlets. Starscream joined in, the singing filling the medbay. 

“What have I missed?” Kaon’s voice cut into the room. The former DJD member was standing in the door, unthreatening, but intense. He looked as if he had run through the base and Sunstreaker, pounding down the halls after him, gave truth to that supposition.

“Not much, we’re just singing to them, Kaon. Come in.” Pharma beckoned him close to his side. “You can hear them.”

Kaon leaned close to Pharma’s cockpit and began his own facsimile of Seeker speech to the infants. Starscream was impressed at his mastery. It seemed that the generator had come very far in his understanding of the language in a very short time.

It was about half a cycle later and Pharma’s cockpit was open, the sparklings visible as the gestation tank crept open, unfurling like a flower, when there was a knock on the medbay door.

Starscream’s spark shivered as it sensed its mate and he opened it. “Optimus?”

“May I come in? Or would I be in the way?” Optimus questioned.

“Pharma, may Optimus come in?” Starscream turned to look at his aeriemate.

“Of course. We need a fourth voice for E Promiterri.” Pharma was leaning in Kaon’s arm as the generator leaned against the berth. They were both watching the sparklings, Pharma’s neck craning over as he looked down.

“I don’t know that one.” Optimus admitted as he came close to the berth.

“Follow our lead.” Pharma instructed as the convoy hovered near his pedes. 

Optimus could speak Seeker as fluently as a Convoy would ever. He joined in the chorus of two Seekers and Kaon, doing his best to ignore the titan in the room. Kaon would make every Autobot nervous for a long time yet.  
As the melody finished, Pharma turned over so that he was lying on his front on his cockpit and elbows. Kaon and Starscream supported his shoulder kibble so that he wasn’t lying directly on his chamber, and the gel pod would have room to separate from the gestation tank. 

The pods had given rise to the idea that Seekers laid eggs. It was partially true, the gel pod was remarkably like an egg and coated in a membrane that resembled a soft shell and was difficult to pierce. When the pod separated, Seekerlets would take a few klicks to a cycle to “hatch” from it. Its wings would unfurl to their full length and the sharp tips would pierce the membrane. At that point, the pod would have done its job, protecting the delicate sparkling from its parent’s energies, and it would degrade into little more than a mess as the sparkling wiggled free and let loose its first cry. 

Pharma was clearly nervous as he felt the pod dropping away from his tank. His song stuttered, but Kaon nuzzled his audial and soothed him gently. Slowly, Pharma raised himself off of the berth, revealing the pink and purple pod on the berth. All of the nanites that had once sprinkled the pod like stars had been absorbed into the tiny frames. The sparklings were curled together, their sparks shining through their thin plating like stars. 

Starscream leaned into Optimus, coolant pricking at his optics. 

Pharma took Kaon’s servo and squeezed it.

“What now?” The generator questioned.

“We wait for the wings to unfurl. When they do, they’ll prick the membrane and the sparklings will free themselves.” Pharma explained. “It shouldn’t take long.”

The four mechs watched with bated breath as the wings slowly, ever so slowly unfurled. They were rounded, like Pharma’s, and drooping downwards. There was an intake of air from every mech as the sharp point of each wing began to press against the membrane. All four held their vents as the membrane bent and then broke against the metal points. Viscous liquid poured across the berth.

The sparkling closest to the left side of the berth began to stir. Some instinct propelled it to seek the air and it slowly began to wiggle down, slicing through the membrane as it went, the sack deflating as the liquid continued to pour. Pharma trilled and chirped to the sparkling, encouraging it to continue to wiggle out.

Kaon gently reached forwards and hooked his digit under the membrane over the sparkling’s little faceplates. He pulled it back, revealing his own features. Kaon’s electrical senses must have picked up the near-exact similarities in some way because Starscream saw the generator jolt slightly as he appeared to be staring down at a sparkling that he had sparked. A smirk played about his lips as Kaon encouraged the Seekerlet into his servos. Pharma picked up the second one, and both simply held the tiny creatures, cuddling them close and staring, looking for features.

Each seekerlet had Kaon’s coils where Pharma had shoulder cannons. They had silver plating that shone clear, but was growing more opaque as it was exposed to the air. Their colors were going to be red, white, and gold, the hues coating the edges of the plating. They had rounded cockpits, but their helms were plain: No chevron or antennae. Their faces were fine, jaws sharp, but they had Kaon’s nasal vent. At least they had inherited Pharma’s optics. Each had baby blue.

“They’re beautiful.” Kaon was stroking the firstborn’s wings with a single digit. “You have names prepared, Pharma?”

“I have.” Pharma cooed and named each sparkling both in Vosnian and Common. “That one that you’re holding is going to be Lightwing. This one is Shockbreak.”

Kaon nodded. “Fitting names.”

Starscream and Optimus exchanged glances and the Seeker set a servo on the convoy’s elbow. They slipped out of the medbay, leaving Ratchet to take scans of each sparkling and record their names and specs. Then, the grouchy medic would follow them, giving the Creators time to be with their new infants and bond alone.

When they were out in the hall, Optimus picked up Starscream around the waist and twirled the Seeker in the air, surprising Sideswipe to no end. Starscream hugged Optimus back and kissed his facemask. Sideswipe cut his optics from side to side and slipped off.


	48. 4 Million Years Before: The Sparklet Descends

Starscream was waiting for Orion when the convoy came home. There was energon on the table and he had a datapad in servo, reading. 

Orion settled across from him. “How was your day?”

“Boring. I’m glad you’re home.” The Seeker replied, one servo idly rubbing his cockpit. His sigils had been covered over with thick paints. “I read mostly, and sang to our little one.”

“Can they hear you?” Orion questioned, sipping his energon.

“Yes, and they respond, I assure you. It would be better if you could sing to them as well, so that they will know both of us.” Starscream suggested.

“What should I sing?” Orion questioned. “I don’t speak Seeker.”

“I can teach you.” Starscream replied. “It’s not as if I have much else to do.”

“I’ll bring you more datapads from the archives when I’m next in the area.” Orion assured his mate.

“Thank you.” They fell silent while they nursed their drinks.

“We made a Sylex shipment today. It was a good bust, seven dealers and the chemist.” Orion commented.

“Interesting.” Starscream agreed. “It was the warehouse after all then?”

“Yeah.” Orion explained. “We tracked the boat to warehouse A-C-12 and they had a whole laboratory set up in a hide-away below the floor.”

They chatted about things they already knew, went over the day’s events, washed up for berth, and relaxed together. Orion could feel Starscream’s wings twitching, aching for the sky, aching to fly. The Seeker was ignoring it so far, but he couldn’t ignore it forever. They would have to figure something out. 

The sparklet grew brighter and larger every day. Starscream sang quietly to it as he rocked from side to side. Suddenly, he felt a twinge in his spark. He froze suddenly, his song stopping. Orion’s spark brushed against his in question.

Starscream rubbed his cockpit as the twinges came again and again. He projected his worry and fear and Orion pushed an image of Pharma back. He would get the Seeker medic and bring him home.

Starscream hugged his cockpit and waited, agonizingly. 

Orion and Pharma burst into the apartment and Pharma went immediately to his aeriemate. “Let me see.” He pulled out his portable equipment and began looking.

Starscream showed Pharma his spark and the medic relaxed at once. “It’s just descending. You’re okay.”

Starscream nodded and a smile split his faceplates as the twinges became worse. Orion sat beside him. “Starscream?”

“It descended. It’s going to stay.” Starscream hummed, looking down past his spark.

“You’d better close up.” Pharma put his equipment away. “It isn’t good to expose the sparklet traveling.”

Starscream agreed and shuttered his spark chamber once more. 

“Well, with that minor fuss out of the way, I’m going to head back to the clinic.” Pharma kissed Starscream’s forehelm.

“Thank you, Pharma.” Starscream trilled to his sparkling and his buoyant mood kept his spirits up through the whole night.


	49. Pharma and Prowl

Pharma knocked on Prowl’s office door. “Prowl?”

“Pharma.” Prowl looked up. “I would have thought you would be with the sparklings. Congratulations.”

“Starscream has them for the moment. I needed to talk to you.” Pharma stepped into the office and shut the door. “Prowl, the brig is no place for developing Seekerlets.” 

“There is nothing keeping you in the brig, Pharma. I will arrange for you to have quarters with windows at once.” Prowl reached for a form.

“Prowl. More important than windows to Seeker development are social relationships. Other Seekers.” Pharma enunciated. “Seekers who are free to fly, sing, and play with Seekerlets.”

Prowl froze. “You are asking me to release a Decepticon, whom I have had personal run-ins with, and who has not given up his sigils, in spite of claiming to be an Informant.”

Pharma reflected that Prowl was justified in being wary. “I’m a Decepticon.” He stated.

Prowl jolted.

Pharma tapped his scored Autobot sigil. “Kaon took my badge off when he brought me here. He thought I would be treated better if I was wearing this.”

“You took the oath.” Prowl was reaching for stasis cuffs.

“No, I didn’t. Tarn branded me against my will.” Pharma countered. “But I was a Decepticon. I was branded and bonded to a member of the DJD, and by the end of six months, I was a willing participant in our relationship, cool though it may seem to you. I can’t imagine life without Kaon anymore, just as Starscream cannot imagine life without Optimus Prime.”

Prowl growled. “What do you want?”

“I want you to release your restraints on Starscream, and allow him run of the base. My aeriemate risked his spark every cycle for 4 million years for your cause. I want you to acknowledge it, and face up to the fact that there is more to the Seeker than meets the eye.” Pharma made his demands calmly.

Prowl gripped the table. “And if I refuse?”

“Then Starscream and I will have to give serious thought to going to join my bondmate in his refuge. What Prime does is up to him, but I think he would join us. All of which amounts to the fact that you would have four refugees from Decepticon justice outside of this base, which is the safest place. Not to mention the decrease in efficiency if Prime chooses to join us and no longer lives on base.”

“Is that all?” Prowl ground his dentaes. 

“I think so.” As Pharma was leaving, he heard the distinct sound of a desk flipping over and hitting the floor.

 

Kaon listened in with pleasure and stroked Pharma’s spark pleasantly. He was sitting in his refuge, listening and watching what was going on. He liked keeping an optic on the activity. It was surprisingly satisfying to see that the Functionism that had condemned him was still alive in the Autobot ranks. Further justification of a war he already knew as right.

Sideswipe niggled at him. He hadn’t expected the Praxian to back down when Starscream challenged his orders. He might be tappable for an agent, low-level, but everything helps.


	50. 4 Million Years Before: Foreshadowing

Starscream was waiting for Orion to come home with far more eagerness than he would ever have admitted. He was so bored just sitting in the apartment, reading, and doing housekeeping. How did housemechs do this?

They had to have super powers of boredome management. 

He knew Orion was a little put off by his clinginess, but he couldn’t help it. Iacon was cold and carrying Seekers wanted to be warm in all senses of the word. At least the interfacing was good, really, really good.

They barely talked, which wasn’t helping their strained relationship. Orion had been researching Seekers and Vos, but research wouldn’t help understanding.

Sometimes, Starscream wondered if this whole armistice was a doomed experiment that was bound to spiral down into their old pattern of mutual abuse and hatred.

Orion sensed his train of through and sent out utter refusal to give up. At least the convoy believed in them, which was something, and Starscream could feel that he was honestly trying, which was something else, and Orion was proving himself a dedicated Creator already, which was the best something of all three. Whatever happened, their delicate sparkling would be loved.

Speaking of said sparkling, it was turning over and over in his tank. The sparklet hadn’t split, leaving him with one little child developing. He cooed to the little one and curled down into the berth to continue his vigil and wait.


	51. Dawnseer

Starscream nuzzled the sparklings’ chubby bellies and accepted the crackle of electricity that they seemed to constantly exude.

Shockbreak was awake and looked up at the larger Seeker as Starscream continued to lave affection on the small Seekerlets. Each one could fit easily in Optimus’s servo or in Starscream’s cupped ones. 

Speaking of the Convoy, he was watching Starscream fuss over the babies with a slightly glazed and faraway look in his optics. His spark was calm and affectionate, contemplative in the deep love that he felt for the tricolor mech in front of him and the four tiny lives he was carrying.

Starscream was entirely focused on the tiny, portly Seekerlets. Like most infant sparklings, their tanks were much larger in proportion to the rest of them, giving them the illusion of being, as the humans put it, butterballs. When they grew up a little and began moving about under their own power, their tanks would become a more proportionate size.

Optimus had seen glimpses of Starscream’s experiences with sparklings and the way they behaved. He was going to have to have a camcorder on them constantly to soak up the adorable that would be flying at them both from all sides.

Naturally, his thoughts slowly turned to Dawnseer, their first sparkling. He wondered if Starscream thought of her often. Optimus knew Starscream touched his Memory Pendant when he thought the convoy fast in recharge.

His mate would not survive the loss of these, if they did.

Starscream sensed his worry and lifted his helm to meet the Prime’s sapphire optics. “I can hear the gears working from here, Optimus.”

Optimus smiled softly. “It’s nothing, Starscream.”

The Seeker raised an optical ridge and stroked Lightwing’s belly with one servo. “You’re thinking of Dawnseer, aren’t you?”

Optimus dipped his head to the side. “I could never hide anything from you.”

Starscream chuffed. “That’s patently untrue. It’s not going to happen again, Optimus. These sparklings are strong, bright, and developing well. You will have your sons and daughters in time.”

“It’s not just them I worry about.” Optimus rolled towards Starscream and kissed his wing.

Starscream sighed and cuddled back into him. “I’m never leaving you again, Optimus. I hope you realize that.”

“You know I do. I love you.” Optimus wrapped an arm around the Seeker. “But sometimes, I worry for you. There are things you and I cannot control.”

Starscream’s helm laid against Optimus’s shoulder kibble. “I know that, but for what we can control, for cycle by cycle. I will always love you.”

Optimus kissed his helm. “Thank you, Starscream.”

Pharma entered and collected his sparklings, cooing over them and placing them in his cockpit. “Thanks for watching them.”

“How was your conversation with Prowl?”

“It went about as well as can be expected.” Pharma replied, nodding to his aeriemate. “Good night, Starscream.”

“Good night, Pharma.” The mech left the lovers to their own devices.


	52. 4 Million Years Before: Dawnseer

Orion was in so much trouble. Shots surrounded him and his small group as they attempted to get clear of the Decepticon cell. Without Starscream, the resistance in Iacon had become much, much less effective, which had made Orion a little bit over confident about this operation.

He turned and fired at the mechs again before jumping back behind cover. The last thing he needed was a distraction.

Which was exactly what he got when spiking pains began running through his chassis. Reaching out to Starscream, he sent a snappish query.

Starscream sent back confusion and terror. He didn’t know what was going on. He wanted Orion to come home and help him.

Orion pushed back that he couldn’t leave, pointed out that he was surrounded by Decepticons, and closed the bond as much as he could.

Starscream scrabbled at the locked door and his pain still pulsed against Orion’s spark. The convoy sent back an image of Pharma and closed up as hard as he possibly could, focusing with all his might.

Starscream’s despair briefly suffused the bond before he shut his own end.

 

Orion arrived home to find Pharma and Starscream in the washracks. Pharma had medical equipment laid out and the whole apartment smelled like disinfectants. Starscream’s cockpit was open, but the Seeker was offline in a forced recharge. 

Orion’s servo went to his intake at the sight of clotted and spilled energon down his mate’s front and dripping over the washrack’s floor.

“What happened?” He knelt beside the medic. 

Pharma cast Orion a weary look. “I’m sorry.” He pointed to an energon-stained bundle of white fabric lying in a surgical pan. “She didn’t make it.”

“She?” Orion reached for the bundle with trembling servos. He had had a daughter…

He unwrapped the bundle reluctantly, needing to see and not wanting to at the same time. Inside the white shroud, he found the tiniest Seekerlet he could imagine. She was only as large as two of his digits, her limbs curled into her tiny body. Her plating was coral with traces of pink and gold. She looked like the sunrise over Iacon. Her tiny, dark optics were huge and her wings were curled tight to her back. 

Orion held her to his windshield gently. “She’s beautiful…”

“She is, isn’t she?” Pharma’s optics were running with coolant as he finished cleaning out the gestation tank and closed Starscream up. “Wrap her back up, I’m going to bring Starscream back online.”

Orion laid the gauze back over the tiny body as Pharma rebooted Starscream, the Seeker twitching and shuttering his optics several times. “… Orion?”

Pharma shushed Starscream. “Take a moment to get your bearings, Starscream.”

Starscream’s optics focused on the gauze bundle and his servos reached. “Dawnseer…” His optics pricked and began to run with coolant. Orion hesitated to hand their daughter’s tiny frame over, but knelt beside the Seeker and finally held her out.

Starscream unwrapped the gauze from the dead Seekerlet and something died behind his optics and inside his spark. He held her close to his cockpit and hummed a mindless, broken tune to it. Pharma turned dismayed blue optics to Orion, who spread his servos in a helpless gesture.

They cleaned up the impromptu surgical sight, trying not to disturb Starscream. Orion quietly thanked Pharma for coming and saw him to the door. Then, he gathered Starscream up off of the floor and made him lie in berth. When he tried to take Dawnseer, Starscream hissed at him and rolled over, curling up around the tiny femme. 

They lay with their backs to each other through the night, neither slept.


	53. A Morning Flight

Starscream woke, spooned up against Optimus’s front. His wings were bent into an awkward position to allow for the position. The Seeker grumbled, groaned, and turned over with difficulty, allowing his wings to lay off of the edge of the berth. 

Optimus grunted when a wing smacked his nasal vent, but didn’t wake yet. Starscream cuddled into him. The convoy was deliciously warm against his chassis. 

Of course, he had known that as his gestation progressed, he would crave warmth, but this was ridiculous. He felt as if he would freeze if he left his wings out in the air any longer. With great difficulty, he pulled them down against his back and flicked the blanket over them. That was better. 

Optimus cuddled Starscream in his sleep and murmured something against his Seeker’s helm. Starscream fell asleep with a smile on his faceplates.

They were awoken later when Pharma gently knocked on the door. It was the morning and he wanted to go on a flight with his aeriemate.

“Is it morning already?” Optimus groaned, sitting up slightly.

“I think so.” Starscream sighed. “Can’t we just ignore it?”

“Prowl is pinging me for a meeting and someone is knocking.” Optimus sighed. “Come on, let’s see who it is.”

Starscream and Optimus answered the door. Pharma took in the trembling of Starscream’s wings. “You’ve started warmth seeking then?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” Starscream smiled. “What do you need, Pharma?”

“I’m going for a flight. I wondered if you would join me?”

“I think I have the energy for a short cruise.” Starscream turned to Optimus. “I’ll be back in a cycle, darling.”

Optimus took his servo and kissed it. “I’ll meet you for noontime energon after my meeting with Prowl, love.”

Starscream nodded and he and Pharma walked out of the brig together. No one challenged them, though they did receive some odd looks.


	54. 4 Million Years Ago: Losing

In the morning, Orion had to pry Dawnseer away from Starscream. The infant’s frame would soon begin to corrode and rot if he didn’t. 

Starscream shrieked the moment Orion dared touch his cupped servos. “Get away from me!”

“Be reasonable, Starscream! You can’t keep her!” Orion gripped the Seeker’s wrist and began working on loosening the digits. 

“I can hold her as long as I want! You don’t own me, Orion Pax!” Starscream bellowed back and loosened one of his servos long enough to fend off Orion with a punch to his faceplate.

“She’s going to rot and become a mess! Do you really want that?” Orion grabbed the Seeker’s servo and held him off, pinned to the bed.

“She’s my daughter! You don’t get to touch her, you don’t get to look at her, you monster!” Starscream’s servo clenched tighter around the tiny frame as Orion tried to get at Dawnseer. 

The convoy got a hold of Dawnseer’s servo and tugged at the same time that Starscream squeezed. 

There was a sickening sound and Dawnseer’s arm popped off and her chassis collapsed on itself. Starscream reeled back and stared down at the mess that had been his daughter’s frame.

“Look what you’ve done. Give her to me!” Orion grabbed Starscream’s servo and peeled up the rest of the infant’s frame. He sealed Dawnseer into a container. “I’m going to be late for work. Try to get some sleep.”

Starscream devolved into sobs and curled into himself on the berth. “I hate you. I hate you!”

Orion paused at the door and sighed, bowing his helm. Their experiment was doomed, wasn’t it? It was the end for them.

The cop walked to the police station instead of driving. The small container was tucked into his subspace, he would take their daughter to a melting pit as soon as he could. 

Looking up, he noticed the jeweler’s shop that he passed every day, and thought of his Seeker, sobbing for the daughter they had lost. Turning from his normal path, he stepped into the shop.


	55. Pharma's Visit

Starscream returned to the base pleasantly exhausted with Pharma at his side. The medic was fussing over his sparklings, cooing to them and chirping. Shockbreak and Lightwing peered out of the cockpit with wide optics after their first flight. They would soon go to sleep after all that excitement. 

Silron was slavering over Pharma as the turbofox greeted its master. Pharma stroked its ears and patted its sides as it leapt about the two Seekers. Obviously, the Pet did not enjoy being left on the ground while Pharma flew.

Optimus met them before they reached the brig and put his arms about Starscream, pressing a languid kiss to his Mate’s lipplates. “Prowl relented. You’re going to stay in my quarters from now on, Starscream.”

“Finally! It’s been months.” Starscream caressed the Prime’s aerials. “Come on, let’s move there now.”

“I’ll help. Then, I think I’ll take Prowl up on his original offer.” Pharma offered.

“Thank you, Pharma.” Starscream smiled. “Come on, we’re finally home.”

Pharma touched his scarred Autobot brand. “Not yet. Star, can you take Shockbreak and Lightwing? I need to go and talk to my better half.”

Starscream’s optics flickered as he thought of Kaon being Pharma’s “better half” but made no mention. Optimus outright looked frightened by the prospect. “Of course, Pharma. Take all the time you need.”

Pharma handed Starscream his sleeping seekerlets and went back outside. Looking up, he shuttered his optics and reached for Kaon. The soft presence in his spark raised its head and brushed against him in question. Pharma responded with a desire to come to his mate’s aerie. Kaon responded in the negative, but suggested an alternate location.

Pharma took to the air, flying towards where Kaon’s spark was leading. 

Kaon met him in the shadowed valley formed by two craggy rocks. The generator was sitting on a boulder when Pharma came closer, but stood to greet him as the Seeker landed. “Pharma.”

Pharma’s spark prickled with longing. Kaon had left a mere cycle after Pharma’s delivery, they had had no time to be reacquainted or to renew their sparks with each other. “Kaon.”

Pharma held out his arms to embrace the generator bar electric chair. Kaon’s EM field surrounded him in a casual embrace as he pressed himself to the Seeker’s cockpit. In spite of his slender stature, Kaon had struts and cables like unutrium, his wiring long and lean. Pharma ran his servos down his mate’s spinal strut and sank into him.

“I’m surprised you came here.” Kaon murmured. “Didn’t I always say I would be there if you needed me?”

Pharma braced himself for a confession that would leave him vulnerable. “I need you every day, Kaon. In small ways, I need you every cycle. Our Seekerlets are born now, and they need you more than I do. You’re their Creator.”

Kaon stroked Pharma’s shoulder cannon gently. “I must stay out here, Pharma. I do not belong in the Ark with the Autobots, where you do. This is for the sparklings’ safety, and your own.”

“And yours?” Pharma stroked the blind mech’s faceplates. “You are far from helpless, Kaon, but when I think of you out here, alone, I fear for you.”

“My safety is secondary.” Kaon smiled down at Pharma and pressed a kiss to his forehelm. “Now, did you come here to badger me or are we going to enjoy ourselves?”

Pharma made a discontented noise in his throat. “This conversation is not over, Kaon, merely on hold.” 

“Understood, my liege.” Kaon teased as his digits traced down the Seeker’s cockpit and rubbed briefly against the Autobot insignia before going lower.

Pharma harrumphed and rolled his hips against Kaon’s thigh. “Oh, you win, you incorrigible mech, but just imagine…” He made a sinful full frame undulation against Kaon’s chassis. “… Just imagine, being able to have all this, every day. No Tarn to interrupt, no two hour round trip to the Ark and back, just you and me and a very nice berth… every. Single. Day. Of. Our. Lives.” Pharma enunciated directly into Kaon’s audials.

Kaon’s generator turned over, his EM field picked up a notch, and the static charge that always seemed to cling to his frame picked up. He liked the idea, yes, he did.

Pharma smirked and pressed a kiss to Kaon’s neck cables. “Think on it.”


	56. 4 Million Years Ago: Memory Pendant

Starscream was in recharge when Orion came home. The convoy was holding a small, velvet box in his servos. 

The Seeker’s faceplates were stained with coolant tears and his expression was miserable. He had torn gashes into his arms with his claws. Orion sighed and went to get a warm rag and a bowl of water to clean the wounds and the tears. 

Starscream woke as Orion tended to him. “I hate you…” He murmured, but allowed the ministrations as Orion bandaged his self-inflicted wounds.

“I hate you more.” Orion gave the Seeker a weak smile and began running the cloth over the gunmetal grey face.

Starscream didn’t flinch from the rag. He was exhausted, physically, and lay boneless against the convoy’s arm as Orion gently cleaned off the rest of the dried coolant. “You took her from me.”

“I had to, Starscream. What were you going to do? Just hold her until she rusted to liquid?” Orion sighed and stroked the Seeker’s helm. “I brought you something.” He picked up the box and handed it to Starscream.

Starscream opened it with trembling digits and lifted the pendant out. It was shaped into an optic with the pupil made into the sun and rays of light going out from it to the edges. “This is a Memory Pendant, isn’t it?”

Orion nodded and turned it over. Dawnseer was engraved in the back, the name filled in with Aura against the protoform colored pendant. “I took her to a jeweler and had this made. They didn’t ask too many questions.”

Starscream lifted the ribbon over his head and pulled the pendant down so that it lay over his sparkchamber. “Thank you, but leave me alone now, Orion. I want to be alone.”

Orion stood up, nodding, and left the room. He recharged on the couch.


	57. Tosca

Starscream and Optimus were curled up together in berth. The Seeker was deep in recharge: A short flight before bed had knocked him right out.

Optimus kissed his forehelm and slowly untangled himself from the Seeker’s embrace. Standing, he stepped into the secondary room that Starscream had claimed for their sparklings. It had once been his library bar home office, but the Seeker was changing that quickly. He had already removed the datapads and memorabilia from the shelves and lined the main room with said pieces of furniture. He would probably go after the antique desk with its variegate top next. When the two Seekers had heard that humans manufactured not only affordable, but cheap materials, visions of the perfect nest had danced in their processors. 

Pharma had been making curled frills to line the inside and outside of a cradle that Wheeljack had put together for a week. Optimus smiled when Starscream snubbed said frills, but immediately began hankering after satin bows and velvet lining. His Carrier instincts were in full force.

The convoy selected a datapad from the piles lying about, and checked the title. It was an old copy of Tosca, a piece of Seeker literature he had used to woo Starscream after their disastrous first attempt at a relationship together. In hindsight, he could see how doomed that had been from the start. Starscream was not made to sit at home all day with nothing to do, especially if it was enforced by fear of discovery. He had chafed and suffered and Orion had been afraid of what his coleagues would think if they ever learned that he had harbored a Seeker- a Decepticon no less! 

It hadn’t been an environment that a relationship could grow in, but it had kicked off his transformation that would end with him becoming Optimus Prime. After Starscream had rejoined the Decepticons, he had become an archivist to avoid being at constant odds with his unwilling mate. From there, he had researched and with research he had begun to understand. 

He was who he was today because of that disaster, but he still wished it could be avoided and never wanted to repeat it.

He returned to Starscream's side soon after finding the datapad and switched it on to read. It was open to Orion's favorite Sonnet: By My Wings. Starscream hated that one, or at least he said so. It was the least polished and the most sentimentally soppy, Optimus could understand why the Seeker didn't prefer it, but he loved it. The words used didn't translate well to common Cybertronian and it wasn't until he learned to speak Vosnian in its entirety that he understood it, but he had stuck with it.

Sit here my love, cease your plea,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
I will soon from my aerie,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
Even forced from to flee,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
Watch return o’er rusty sea,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
I go return on bent knee,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
By tomorrow we shall free,  
By my wings you shall know me,  
I declare once more my love,  
By my wings you shall know me.

 

"What are you reading?" Starscream questioned softly. Optimus hadn't noticed him come online.

"Tosca." Optimus stroked the Seeker's neck cables. "You should be asleep."

"I am... sort of. I'm half in and out." Starscream sighed and snuggled close. "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't. Do you want me to read to you?"

"Yes, please."

Optimus read aloud until the Seeker was fast in recharge. Then, he shut down the datapad and lay beside his mate. He was lucky, to have this.


	58. 4 Million Years Before: Gone

It didn’t surprise Orion when he came home one evening and Starscream was gone. The Seeker had withdrawn from the convoy even more than he normally did over the few days that he had remained to grieve. 

At least he left a note. It was terse, succinct, and even slightly apologetic:

Orion-  
The experiment failed.  
-Starscream

Orion read the note several times before erasing it. Dropping the now empty datapad on the couch, he picked up the controller for the screen in the corner of his main room. Turning it on for the first time in months, he watched the news. Well, more like flipped through the news, and then turned it to a Praxian Language Soap Opera. It was thoroughly awful, some parody of a Seeker family. 

As he scoffed and was about to change the channel, he considered what he had just thought. Before, it wouldn’t have occurred to him that this wasn’t what real Seekers were like. He had assumed that the crazy Carrier and the bumbling Creator with their snappish kids and weird traditions were accurate. Starscream had changed that beyond any shadow of a doubt. 

He changed the channel, then turned the screen off. He looked down at his badge. As a cop, he had assumed that the Decepticons were evil and the Seekers insane. He had pushed off their own suffering and refused to see things from their side.

That had to change and was changing.


	59. Sleepy Seeker

Starscream woke early, but Optimus had woken earlier still for a meeting. The Seeker stretched his servos into the air and stood up. His due date was quickly approaching and he was waiting with anticipation for the three Seekerlets he carried to start singing. The fourth was a tiny triple-changer, so it was up in the air whether or not it would sing. Starscream hoped it did. 

The sparkling’s room was ready. There were datapads filled with brightly colored books, a pile of rubber and fabric plushies made with both Cybertronian and Earth influences, and the cradle was a tasteful crib with rounded sides, lined in velvet and decorated with satin bows and ribbons. It even had a curtain that could be drawn around it.

Starscream hummed softly as he sat down in the corner with the pile of plushies. He picked up a petrorabbit and stroked its audials. Cuddling it close to his cockpit, he began to feel his optics drifting shut. Every day seemed longer lately.

Optimus returned at noon energon to find Starscream partially buried in the mountain of plushies, fast in recharge. The convoy sighed and sat down beside his mate in the nest the Seeker had apparently been recharge-building. He put his arms around the Seeker and rested his helm on Starscream’s. 

Starscream mewled softly in his sleep and edged closer to Optimus. The Prime soothed a servo over his mate’s wing, watching it twitch. He gently repeated the motion until the Seeker woke up. As adorable as a plushie nest was, it couldn’t be good for Starscream’s spinal strut.

Starscream fussed softly as his optics unshuttered and brightened. “What-? Optimus?”

“Come to bed, Starscream, this isn’t the best place to sleep.” Optimus gently worked his arms beneath the Seeker.

Starscream grunted and chirruped to his sparklings as the convoy lifted them. “They’re kicking me. They’re definitely yours.”

“Oh, no, impossible. A child of mine would have to be sweet and meek. They’re definitely yours.” Optimus kissed Starscream’s helm.

“Oh, hush.” Starscream grumbled. “You’re such a jerk.”

“I am not.” Optimus mildly replied, laying Starscream down on the berth.

“Yes you are. Just let me sleeeeepppp…” The Seeker moaned and buried himself in the blankets. Optimus burrowed in with him and snuggled close, warm against the cool Seeker. He had a cycle before his next meeting. He would spend it here, where he belonged.


	60. 4 Million Years Ago: Hope For Pax

Starscream and Orion didn’t see each other for a few months. Their sparkling, spending time with each other constantly, being able to interface regularly. All of these factors had resulted in their bond progressing into a stable state. They were no longer plagued by excess charge and Starscream stopped his trips into the encampment to look for lovers.

When he reappeared, he spun Megatron a story about being captured and not knowing anything about what had happened to him. Hook had had to give him a thorough processor examination to assure Megatron that the Seeker had not been subjected to shadowplay.

Megatron and Soundwave appeared happy enough when Starscream saw them. He envied Soundwave deeply, a jealousy that permeated their work and resulted in a fast-forming rivalry. Soundwave, though he was thrilled- in his monotone way- to be taken as Megatron’s mate, resented Starscream for leaving the warlord. It was the kind of backwards, twisted logic that Starscream thoroughly resented in return.

This hadn’t been his choice and it wasn’t his fault. 

It was a relief to be back in the thick of the movement, though. His trinemates had become more distant still and Megatron didn’t look him in the optics, but the Seeker was thriving nonetheless. His Memory Pendant was kept in a special pocket of his subspace and he stroked it every night as he lay in his berth. Sometimes, he even reached out and touched Orion’s spark, checking up on the Hero Cop. 

To his surprise, the Hero Cop was changing. He was quiet now and introspective. Perhaps there was hope for Pax after all.


	61. Starscream's Four

Starscream could be a heavy recharger. He knew that. Optimus knew that. So, when the sparklings broke into song at some point during the night, he didn’t notice at first. The singing invaded his dreams and shaped them into a blissful fantasy of life with his family.

Three little Seekerlets sat in a line on the lip of their balcony, chittering in mixed anticipation and nerves. Below them, their Carrier chirped encouragingly. Beside them, leaning on the railing with their still-too young triple-changer in his arms, Optimus was watching with worried pride as his little children prepared to plunge into the air and transform for their first flight. Starscream fishtailed in the air just a few feet below them, Pharma and his sparklings beside him. The two little electric jets were trying to copy the older Seeker’s motions as they hovered over their Carrier’s wings. Pharma cooed to his twins and waggled his wings at them, guiding them into a gentle dive away from Starscream and the three Seekerlets.

Starscream waggled his wings to his children and swung a lazy eight beneath them. The littlest of the three drew his knees up beneath his frame, wiggled himself in a quick stretch, and leapt. He plummeted down towards the ground in a free fall and Starscream dove straight for the ground beside him. The Seekerlet clicked in alarm as he tried to transform, his wings waggling and rattling in fright. Then, there was a moment of realization as he tumbled suddenly into a tiny jet plane. Starscream pulled up below his child and they soared back up to the balcony together. 

Starscream and his sparkling swirled together and pulled up to glide beneath the other two. They gazed down in mixed wonder and fright. Then, they looked at each other and leapt off both at once. Once again, Starscream dove with his babies towards the street below. There was the same transition from panic to confidence as the three Seekers shot back up to meet with the first one off the balcony. Pharma and his twins met them and the seven Seekers danced together in the sky before landing on the balcony. Optimus beamed in pride as his three babies- still not quite having mastered the art of landing- flopped and rolled on the balcony, peeping and chattering in excitement. Pharma and Starscream landed next with Pharma’s twins behind them. The miniature jets crowded around their Carriers, chirping and clutching with their small arms. 

Starscream was woken by sparklight. Instantly, he threw an elbow into Optimus’s tank. He didn’t have time for gentility. “Optimus!”

The convoy grunted and came awake. “Starscream, what is it?” His optics widened at the bright beam of light that painted the room with its white glow. To his credit, he went from wide-opticed astonishment to action in record time, scooping Starscream up and carrying him to the medical bay. Starscream commed Ratchet and Pharma.

The tank was open and so was his spark chamber by the time they reached the medbay. Ratchet guided Optimus to a berth, did a quick scan, and helped Starscream roll onto his front. 

Starscream huffed, venting softly. He raised himself onto his trembling elbows. Optimus gripped his shoulders, holding him up. “You’re doing fantastically, Starscream.”

Starscream shot his mate a rogueish grin. “I know, I am, amn’t I?” In the next moment, he groaned and dropped his helm. “They’re coming, Optimus.”

“I know.” Optimus stroked his wing. “I know.”

Starscream moaned low in his vocalizer. Then, he turned slightly. In the glow of his sparklight, he revealed four little pods. Pharma gasped, taking them in. “Oh, Star… They’re beautiful.”

Starscream nodded, lying on his side, curling around them. “They’re perfect.”

Optimus leaned close, staring down at the four. “They’re so tiny.”

Starscream chuckled. “There are four of them.”

“I know.” Optimus hugged Starscream from behind and kissed his neckcables. “They’re so beautiful, Starscream. Thank you.”

Starscream chuckled. “You’re welcome.” The convoy kissed his Seeker on the lipplates and their optics trained back on the tiny pods as the miniature wings began to unfurl.


	62. 4 Million Years Ago: Battle in the Archives

Starscream next saw Orion Pax when the Decepticon army finally reached Iacon. In that time, he had been aware that Orion was changing, but he never expected him to become an archivist. 

They came upon him in a skirmish over the Library of Iacon. The Seekers were being used because they were precision fighters. They were ordered to take the harddrives complete, without damaging too much. 

Starscream was flying in trine with his brothers. Skywarp and Thundercracker circled off to deal with incoming soldiers. Starscream dove in front of a fleeing archivist… and found himself face to face with Orion Pax.

“Orion?” Starscream gasped.

“Starscream!” Orion was carrying an armload of datapads.

“What are you doing here?”

“I work here: You’re invading.” Orion explained.

“You work here?” Starscream looked around. “Oh. I didn’t think you were actually going to change jobs.”

“Perhaps if you opened the bond occasionally, you would know these things.”

“Oh, stop. I don’t want to have this fight again.” Starscream put a servo to his faceplates. “Point me in the direction of the mainframe, and I’ll let you go.”

“And if I don’t?” Orion challenged.

Starscream pointed a null ray at him.

“Good point.” Orion pointed. “That way.”

Starscream opened the bond enough to feel that Orion was telling the truth and moved out. Orion stood there for a few moments, then ran the opposite direction.


	63. Attack on the Ark Part One: Pharma

Starscream had Rigel, Orion, Regulara, and Bellatrix tucked into his side. The proud Seeker watched each of his tiny sparklings with a sharp optic. Orion, the second born, was the only triple-changer of the group and strongly resembled his Creator, with the exception of the tiny wings that protruded from his back and his faceplates-which were gunmetal grey, like Starscream’s. He was lying on his back with his tiny limbs tucked tightly to his protruding tank. The three Seekerlets were primly tucked together on their fronts, making sleepy sounds occasionally and humming softly. 

Rigel was the most like Starscream. He was the smallest of the trine and had red, white, and blue plating. His wings were pert and straight and he had Starscream’s facial features set into Optimus’s silver faceplates. All of the tiny Seekerlets had silver protoforms.

Regulara and Bellatrix were almost exact and opposite twins. Regulara had blue optics, red as her primary color, and white as her secondary. Bellatrix had red optics, white as her primary color and red as her secondary.

All four sparklings made a handsome sight as they lay nestled to their Carrier’s cockpit. Beside them, Lightwing and Shockbreak lay. Shockbreak was eating messily from Pharma’s fuel line, energon occasionally dribbling out of his intake. He was a little piggy when he fueled. Lightwing generally ate after his brother or at the same time and was entirely neat and gentle, slowly coaxing his Carrier’s nanite-rich, life-giving fuel from Pharma’s lines.

Starscream’s own sparklings had had their first fuel only a few cycles before. Optimus had been ecstatic, stroking their wings and churring to them as Starscream lay on his back with his cockpit open to let the convoy see them. Optimus had been attentive on each, encouraging them to fuel by stroking their backs and chirping to them in the broken Seeker-cant that he knew as well as a non-seeker ever would.

Pharma chirped softly to Starscream, who chattered back to his aeriemate. Both mechs were missing their mates. Their frames continued to produce and process nanites for the sparklings and the interface drives were still high. It was particularly bad for Pharma, with Kaon still insisting on remaining out in the wilderness. It was probably for the best. One never knew when the DJD might come knocking and Kaon would be best out of the way.

The alarms went off. Both Seekers sat up abruptly and hissed, herding their sparklings into the safety of their cockpits.

“What does that mean?” Pharma’s wings flared as he listened to the shrieking alarm bell.

“It means the base is under attack.” Starscream hissed, wings flicking. “Who could it be?”

Pharma whimpered and hugged his cockpit. “What should we do?”

“Take my sparklings.” Starscream released the four tiny infants and shunted them into Pharma’s cockpit. “And barricade the door.” Then, the other Seeker was gone, out into the base.

Pharma cooed to the six babies and pushed a heavy dresser in front of the door. He went into Starscream and Optimus’s bedroom, instinctively putting as many walls between them and danger as possible. He shut this door with a chest that he could barely push. Then, he huddled down beneath the berth. He thought back to when his bond with Kaon was new and he still hated the gentle generator with all his might.


	64. 1 Year Before: The Pet

Kaon bound Pharma down to the berth. “You have to stay here. I know you don’t like it, but it’s the best I can do for you.”

Pharma bared his teeth. “Get away from me.”

“Be careful, okay, and if you need anything, comm me. Pet?” He called to the drooling, disgusting turbofox he insisted on keeping. “Pet, take care of Pharma.” He told it, rubbing its ears. 

“If that nasty creature comes within a kilometer of me!” Pharma threatened impotently as the Pet nuzzled his cheekplate.

“He likes you.” Kaon stated gently and slid out the door as Pharma cursed and begged, wanting to be freed from the berth and longing for home. Through it all, the Pet licked coolant from his streaming faceplates and nudged at his cheek and neck, though Pharma lashed and howled his threats and curses against the turbofox next.

Perhaps the stupid creature was immune to such actions. Kaon often sicked him on his prey, so it had to have heard more than its fair share of screaming, curses, and pleas for mercy.

Pharma sobbed as the Pet kept licking his faceplates. “Please, just leave me alone. I don’t like you.”

The turbofox climbed up on the berth and curled up beside the bound Seeker to better lick at his faceplates until Pharma stopped sobbing. It was better to have the damnable creature than to be all alone. His digits flexed as the Pet curled into his side. Filthy, nasty creature. It was covered in grime. If Kaon was going to insist on leaving it with Pharma, he was going to insist that it be washed at once.

Kaon returned later in the cycle. He released Pharma and rubbed the Pet’s head. “Were you good?” He asked it, affectionately. 

Pharma curled up in the corner of the berth farthest from Kaon. “No, he wasn’t. He wouldn’t stop licking me.”

“Did you want to make Pharma feel better? How sweet.” Kaon cooed to the animal. He turned to the Seeker, his blind gaze seeming to fix Pharma. “Is there anything you need?”

“A long wash and that thing needs one too if you’re going to leave it with me and let it sleep in the berth.” Pharma glared, insulted by Kaon’s behavior towards the turbofox, though really, what was he expecting? He was just the Seeker who had been forced on the generator as surely as Kaon had been forced on him.

Kaon felt that, clearly, as his mouth flinched. “Nothing’s stopping you. My home is yours, at least as long as I’m here.”

Pharma crossed his arms. “I won’t try to escape. There’s no need to tie me up like an animal all the time.”

“It isn’t my decision, Pharma.” Kaon stated gently, staying calm in spite of Pharma’s boiling emotions. He was good at that, too good. 

Pharma harrumphed and stalked past the spindly mech and into the washracks. “When I’m done, wash that thing.”

Kaon rubbed the Pet’s ears. “He doesn’t mean it, Pet. He’s just in a bad mood.”

Pharma sniffed and the door shut behind him. One of them was crazy and it wasn’t the doctor in the house.


	65. Battle for the Ark Part Two: Optimus

Optimus had been sitting in his office when the alarm went off. He reached for Teletran-1’s console and pulled up the surveillance feed. A massive purple tank with a Decepticon sigil facemask and two heavy-hitting mechs with similar markings were driving towards the Ark with intent. Tarn and his brutes.

The convoy mobilized his forces to defend the Ark while Tarn approached quickly.

They met in front of the Ark, the Autobots out in overwhelming force. Tarn and his goons would stand no chance against their forces, though if they chose to fight, they could still do some considerable damage.

Tarn transformed and faced the Autobot leader down. “Optimus Prime.”

“Tarn.” Optimus folded his arms. “What do you want?”

“You are sheltering or aiding a traitor to the Decepticon Cause, the mech once known as Kaon, though his title has been stripped from him.” Tarn fluffed his plating. “You will hand him over to us or face the consequences.”

“Not on your spark, Tarn. Amp has taken shelter with us and we will not betray him. You’re wrong in any case. Amp isn’t here and doesn’t live at the Ark at all.” Optimus replied. “Leave now, and you and your men won’t be harmed.”

Tarn folded his arms right back. “I could kill you all where you stand, and you threaten me?”

“If you could kill us, you would have.” Optimus snapped right back. “Leave now, or we will be forced to drive you away.”

Tarn looked up at Helex. “Helex?”

The Autobots were showered with laser fire from up in the crags. The last member of the DJD must have finally made himself known. Vos was sniping down from the rocks surrounding the Ark. 

Optimus cursed and the Autobots edged into the darkness of the Ark, taking cover. Tarn opened fire with his fusion cannon and purple blasts from a null ray returned fire. Starscream, never one to let others fight his battles, had arrived. 

Optimus glanced at him and marveled at how beautiful he was as he let off precise bolts of energy, numbing systems and forcing their enemy back. 

With their surprise spoiled and turned around on itself, Tarn began to retreat. Just then, however, the sound of a skiff’s engines echoed through the ravine. Kaon had arrived.

The generator leapt off of the skiff, letting it come to a stop on its own, and used the momentum to carry himself straight into Tarn. He delivered a bolt of electricity straight to Tarn’s throat, disabling his infamous voice. 

Tarn snarled, dumb, and grabbed Kaon about the waist, trying to throw him off. Kaon tensed and electricity ran up and down his frame, blazing through Tarn. It took both Helex and Tesaurus to pry him up and they couldn’t get near him either. The little generator was a heavy-hitter.

Vos sniped at Kaon, but Optimus covered the electric chair’s back. Inevitably, the DJD was forced back.

Starscream went to Optimus. “Are you all right?” He touched the convoy’s shoulder.

Optimus took his servo and let the Seeker help him up. “I’m fine.” He turned to Kaon. “That was… impressive.”

Kaon seemed slightly in awe himself. “I’ve never turned the full extent of my power on my comrades. I didn’t believe myself capable of facing them all at once.”

Starscream folded his arms. “Perhaps now you’ll join the rest of the world in the Ark?”

Kaon sighed and shook his helm. “It looks like I have to, at least until that’s repaired.” Kaon pointed to his skiff. One of Vos’s shots had taken it in the engine casing. “Where’s Pharma?”

“In our quarters.” Starscream answered. “Come on, he’s probably panicking.”

Kaon followed the Seeker into the Ark while the rest of the Autobots were still blinking. One mech, versus the DJD. It didn’t seem possible.


	66. 1 Year Before: Kaon's Explanation

Pharma stared up at the ceiling. The Pet, newly bathed, was lying beside him. The Seeker was strapped down to the berth again, and staring at the light fixture. His spark was prickling with the bond’s call and Kaon’s presence was an unpleasant fixture against his spark. The generator would want to interface with his Seeker that evening.

The Pet raised its helm and nuzzled Pharma’s cheekplate. Pharma flinched away from its drool and the turbofox laid his head back down, whining to the medic.

“I wish you would keep your helm away from me.” Pharma felt a drop of saliva on his face. “I can’t wipe your drool off of myself.” He futiley tried to rub at his face against the berth. The Pet whined, seeming to sense that it was to blame for Pharma’s discomfort.

Pharma sighed. “I suppose it isn’t your fault. You’re just a dumb animal, what can you do?”

Kaon came in. “Please don’t call the Pet a dumb animal. That upsets me.” He set to work, freeing Pharma from the straps attached to his berth. It disturbed Pharma more than he cared to admit that Kaon had so casually affixed polymer belts to the berth, the buckles perfectly placed to keep him pinioned without straining him.

Though he supposed that a mech was entitled to his own tastes. If Kaon tried to tie him down to interface with him, there wouldn’t be much Pharma could do to stop him. It might even be better for the Seeker to be held tightly in place. 

Kaon rubbed the Pet’s head. “Good boy.” He told it. “Did you take care of Pharma?”

Pharma rubbed the drool off of his faceplates. “You pay more attention to that thing than you do to me.”

“I was under the impression that you didn’t want my attention.” Kaon replied evenly. “Whereas the Pet demands it nearly constantly.” As if to prove his point, he stopped his ministrations over the fox’s ears and the Pet whined, pawing his leg.

Pharma resentfully turned away. “If you’re going to inflict yourself on me, you could at least act like I exist.”

“Again, I was under the impression that you didn’t want my attention.” 

Pharma sobbed softly. “Just get it over with. You have to be feeling it too.”

Kaon sighed and gently pushed the Pet away. “Not now, Pet.” The turbofox whined, but backed off, obedient to its master’s wishes. The electric chair sat on the berth and pulled the Seeker to his chassis. “Not when you’re crying.” He rubbed Pharma’s chevron.

That- this kindness that had to be faux- made Pharma cry harder. He gripped Kaon’s arm and bawled, miserable. 

Of course, that was the moment someone knocked. Kaon sighed deeply and stroked Pharma’s helm again. “Wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

He went to the door and opened it. It was Vos, who hissed out something in Primal Vernacular. Kaon responded in a tone that sounded both apologetic, but with a distinct air of “back off.” Vos replied in his snakeish voice and then left. Kaon shut the door firmly.

Pharma was trying to dry his optics, rubbing at them. “What did he want?”

“It was just Vos being Vos. He’s a bit of a barbarian.” Kaon sighed and cupped Pharma to him again, resuming his attempts to soothe the Seeker. 

Pharma gripped Kaon’s arm again, feeling the armor over his cables, the pulse of energon. Kaon kept himself in good shape, he could feel his taut wires and strong struts. He might be the healthiest of all five members of the DJD. “I suppose you aren’t.”

“I don’t torture or torment my lovers, Pharma, and I am no danger to my allies.” Kaon stroked his helm. “Just as I am no danger to you. I am not your enemy, not anymore.”

Pharma’s claws extended a little. “How can I trust you?”

“Ask me a question.”

“Why did you kill First Aid?” Pharma murmured.

“Because I was ordered to.”

“There was no malice?”

“None, and he didn’t suffer. I broke his neck.”

Pharma’s claws dug in a little harder. “I hate… I hate…” He dropped into sobbing again. “How can you be so cold?”

“I’m an executioner, nothing more. Do I enjoy my work? Perhaps a little, but I don’t bring it to berth with me. My conscience is clear before Primus and I do no more than my duty and no less.” Kaon explained, ignoring the drops of energon beading at his plating. 

Pharma hissed through his denteas. “How can your conscience be clean after you attacked a hospital? A medical base?”

“I followed orders. It isn’t my business whether they are good or bad. I am a soldier, and nothing less.” Kaon sighed and dropped a kiss to his shoulder. “Rest. We will interface later.” He slipped Pharma into the berth and pulled a blanket over him.

Pharma clutched it close and continued to sob until he fell into recharge.


	67. Kaon Thoughts

Starscream studied Kaon as they walked towards the quarters the Seeker shared with his mate. There had been a few dozen mechs that he kept careful tabs on during his career as the Decepticon SIC, and every one of the members of the Decepticon Justice Division was on that list.

Kaon stood out from the rest of that band. Tarn was a transformation addict with an obsession with Megatron that rivaled Sunstorm’s devotion to Primus. Vos tormented and tortured any mech who crossed his path, showing them his face and trying to get them to drain their tanks. Helex was terribly deviant- forcing his victims to eat their own processors. Tesaurus had absolutely awful self-care. By comparison, Kaon was almost normal, aside from his apparent glee when he carried out an execution of a traitor. Megatron had showed Starscream a video of Kaon at work and it had made the Seeker drain his tank from fright. There was no doubt that the generator-turned-electric chair had a sadistic streak a mile wide, but apparently he also had a soft streak that eclipsed it if he had brought Pharma and their sparklings here for their safety. He was on the List now, and having been up close and personal with the DJD for so long, he had to know what that meant.

Though after today’s display, Starscream doubted that Kaon would worry about his former compatriots again. Barring Vos, the little generator had managed to take on the whole of his old unit. 

Pharma was hiding beneath Starscream and Optimus’s berth with the six sparklings. The Seeker was silent in his distress, but leapt out and into Kaon’s embrace as soon as the electric chair stepped into the room. “Kaon! I felt you fighting with them, are you hurt?”

“Not a scratch.” Kaon assured him. The medic’s hand fell on a patch on his back and the electric chair winced. “Well, maybe one scratch.”

While Pharma fussed and tried to convince Kaon to come to medbay, Starscream coughed from the sidelines.

“Oh, of course! Sorry, Starscream.” Pharma opened his cockpit and handed Starscream’s four sparklings back to him. The Seeker held them and nuzzled their helms, preening beneath their chins gently before laying them in his own cockpit. 

Kaon felt Starscream’s EM field swell with affection, even though the Seeker still kept it clenched tight to his plating. This was his talent: He sensed every electric pulse, no matter how faint, and could sort them out. It was also how he got around and even managed to drive a skiff. Electricity was everywhere. 

The DJD member soothed his mate even as he considered Starscream. There was no deep-set pain or fear in the mech’s EM, merely a sense of relief and deep affection for his Seekerlets and this base- his home.

Kaon let out a small jolt of electricity that made Pharma’s wings jerk. The Ark had become Starscream’s home. Even if he could return to the Nemesis, he didn’t want to.

Hesitantly, Kaon thought to himself. “The brainwashing must be deeper than we thought…”


	68. A Year Ago: Attempt to Escape

Kaon was lying beside Pharma when the Seeker woke up. Pharma felt a bit drained, as if his recharge hadn’t been very good, but he sighed, sitting up. He looked over at Kaon, recharging peacefully. Then, he looked at the door. While Kaon and the Pet slept, he slipped out into the corridors of the Peaceful Tyranny. He probably only had minutes, but if he could find an escape pod or the shuttle he knew the DJD kept…

The Peaceful Tyranny was quiet and dim, the halls smelled of hospitals and medicine. Tarn ran a clean operation. 

The Seeker slid down the dark corridors with stealth on his side. It seemed that Primus was at his wing, because he made it through most of the corridors, seemingly undetected.

Suddenly, a servo landed on his shoulder and he almost lost his processor. Vos was beside him, stroking his side and hissing in Primal Vernacular to Pharma. The Seeker squeaked as he was subdued and Vos began dragging him back the way he had come.

Pharma’s spark was in his throat as Vos dragged at him. The small mech was much stronger than he looked, much like Kaon. Vos brought him back to Kaon’s door and knocked on it several times. Kaon answered, blinking recharge from his blind optics. “Vos?”

Vos hissed to him. 

“Ah, I see.” Kaon turned to Pharma and took his elbow. “It won’t happen again. Thank you for bringing him back.”

Vos said something that sounded like a suggestion.

Kaon replied and nodded once more. The smallest member of the DJD left and Kaon drew Pharma inside. “Never do that again. If you do, I’ll have to tie you down even when we recharge.”

Pharma hissed. “I have a right to escape. I’m a prisoner of war.”

Kaon shook him. “What you are- or rather were- was a brilliant surgeon sent to a backwater outpost to die, cut off from supplies and slaving over the drones and miners of a nucleon mine that was barely worth its day to day operating fees. Hardly a soldier. Now, you are a Decepticon and my bonded mate. I do not expect much from you, but actively fighting against me and mine will not help you.”

Pharma bared his denteas. “I hate you. I will never be what you want me to be.”

Kaon sighed, seeming to deflate slightly. “Then you leave me no choice.” He pulled out a stasis cuff, modified, and clipped it to Pharma’s wrist. Instantly, the Seeker felt exhausted, physically. 

“What… What is this?” Pharma mouthed, leaning against Kaon as he bent like a willow against the other mech.

“It’s an energy draining cuff. It won’t knock you out, but you’re not going to do anything strenuous.” Kaon laid him back on the berth. “Now, we should satisfy the bond before I have to report for duty, so stay still and relax.”

“I don’t have much choice.” Pharma twitched, trying to fight the exhaustion that suffused him. 

Kaon sighed. “You didn’t give me one either.” He bent down to meet his lips with his own.


	69. Kaon's Thoughts Part Two

Kaon woke next to Pharma and found himself stroking the berth’s cover. He had never felt anything so soft. It was a human material and Pharma had called it fleece. Living in a cave needn’t be awful, but it wasn’t particularly luxurious either, and his berthroll had to be laid out on rocks. 

He put his servos behind his helm, stretching, and looked over at his berthmate. Pharma was curled up into a fetal position, vents humming as he recharged. Reaching over, Kaon stroked his chevron to make him purr. 

There was a cheep from the cradle basket across the room and Kaon slowly sat up. Creeping to the lacy, flouncy little crib, he peeped in at the tiny Seekerlets inside. Sil- the Pet! His silly little bird had him calling it that silly name too- was curled around its base. He thumped his tail as Kaon approached and the generator ran a servo over its back.

Lightwing, the little squeaker, had his optics open and stared back at his Creator, tiny limbs waving up at him. His tank was still huge in proportion to his little frame, as was his helm, safely encased in an armored helmet lined in polymers. Kaon reached in and picked him up, nuzzling him. 

Sparklings were precious in any age, their tiny faces soft with innocence and their thoughts pure, unsullied. He only wished they had been born a little later, when they could be raised in peacetime. 

Lightwing grabbed his digit and tried to put it in his mouth. Kaon resisted his weak, infant pulling and chuckled below his breath. “That’s not energon, sweetling.” Lightwing responded with an adorable pout before his optics began drifting shut again. They were never awake for long at a time. 

Kaon kissed his sparkling’s forehelm and laid him back in the cradle with Shockbreak.

“I never would have imagined you would be a good Creator.” Pharma spoke to him. The medic had rolled over and was hugging a pillow, watching him.

“It can be hard to see past a mech’s surface.” Kaon replied. “I never imagined you would be a good Carrier.”

Pharma sighed. “Why did you agree to this, Kaon? Starscream told me how you nearly defeated the rest of the DJD on your own. You could have put a stop to it.”

Kaon shook his helm. “If authority were dictated by the strongest, there would be anarchy in the world. I follow- followed- Tarn because he was my Commander and he was fit for the position. He ordered me to bond to you and I obeyed. I did not agree with the order at the time, but now…”

Pharma waited for him to finish the sentence. “Now?”

Kaon was smiling oddly, as if he had just realized something and it pleased him. “Now, I would have it no other way.”

Pharma sat up, knees to his cockpit, and nodded. “I would have liked to have met you, when you were Amp. Perhaps things would have been different then.”

“You would not have been impressed.” Kaon replied, coming back to the berth and sitting down beside the Seeker. “Amp was nobody: A minor officer promoted to Megatron’s… elite regulation squad.” The blind mech frowned. “… and tasked with stifling disagreement… and differences in opinion.”

Pharma leaned away from Kaon slightly, put off by the sudden change in his mood.

“Instructed to… destroy individuality.” Kaon rubbed his temple. “I’m sorry, Pharma, my processor stumbled on an old memory file. What were you saying?”

“I said I would have liked to have known you as Amp.” Pharma replied. 

“Amp was nobody: A minor officer. It was by chance that Tarn saw me brow-beating a faltering soldier. When he ran later that cycle, he thought I had an instinct for finding traitors and scooped me up.”

“I see.” Pharma replied. “Were you always a Decepticon?”

“I was low on the Grand Taxonomy. Almost everyone who is became a Decepticon. I’m surprised you didn’t.”

“I guess my status as a medic shielded me from the worst of Functionism and I was living in Iacon, so I guess I didn’t really care. Until Starscream dragged himself to my apartment, torn to scrap.” Pharma sighed. “But it doesn’t matter now. He’s happy and that’s all I can ask.”

“Yes, they are… happy.” Kaon agreed, contemplating.


	70. A Year Before: The Gift Part One

Kaon had brought him a present.

Pharma sat on the bed while the spindly mech worked and stared at it. The Peaceful Tyranny had docked above a Decepticon tradeworld and Kaon and Tarn had disembarked to get supplies. Before he left, Kaon had retrieved a small stash of credits that he had saved for some time and counted out a few of the coins, setting them aside in his subspace. Then, he moved the little box in his servos for a moment.

He turned to Pharma, sitting on his berth resentfully as the Pet curled around his back. “This is for you.” He set the box into his servos. 

Pharma sneered, though he admired the small tin. It was weighty and precious. “And what am I supposed to do with this?”

“I know you may not have much freedom right now, and perhaps less use for credits, but I thought you might appreciate knowing that you have the purse strings, so to speak.” Kaon explained. “My Carrier and Creator had a similar arrangement. If I require money, I would have to speak to you first, and you could refuse me.”

Pharma held the tin, and it took on a new meaning. It seemed that it was a breath of his old power and freedom. Perhaps it meant little. In the month he had spent with Kaon, he had never seen the mech use any coins and there was no use for them aboard the Peaceful Tyranny, but it was something. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“There is no need.” Kaon placed the cuff that sapped Pharma’s strength on his wrist and caught the medic as he wilted. “I will return soon. Pet, take care of Pharma.”

The turbofox whined and laid down next to the medic.

Kaon had returned and taken off the cuff, but he had laid a present on the bed beside Pharma before he began his work. It consisted of a pair of packages wrapped in pink paper with a gold ribbon binding both together. He hadn’t yet touched them, not wanting to accept that they existed. It was a present for a loved one and Pharma didn’t want to be that. Wouldn’t play into whatever sick fantasy Kaon had.

Kaon came to the berth and sat down beside the chevroned medic. “I promise, it isn’t a viper.” 

“I don’t want it. Whatever it is.”

“It’s yours to do with as you wish.” Kaon replied. 

Pharma pushed it away. “Then I don’t want it. Take it away.”

Kaon sighed and picked it up. He placed it on the top shelf of his closet and closed the doors. “How many times, Pharma, must I be rejected? Is there anyway to prove myself to you?”

Pharma was silent and would not answer.


	71. Ironhide's Opinion

Optimus pressed a kiss to Starscream’s neck cables as he stroked the Seeker’s cockpit. He could have sworn that the cradle was in the nursery when they went to recharge the previous evening, but it was tucked against their berth now and one of Starscream’s servos was in it, stroking Regulara mechanically even in the Seeker’s sleep.

Optimus took a moment to admire him before he had to get up. There was a strategy meeting scheduled in about half a cycle. 

Starscream sighed and blinked awake almost as soon as he left his side. “Do you always have to schedule your meetings so early?”

“It means I can get back to you faster in the evenings. Hmm? I know you like that.”

Starscream purred and chuckled softly. “Well, I am an evening person.” He sighed and leaned on one elbow. “But I worry about you. For all that I was in the enemy’s camp, you spread yourself so thin…”

“I have a lot of responsibilities. And we have just added four more delightful, beautiful, and joyous little responsibilities to our load.” Optimus sighed, gathering his datapads and stacking them carefully. He came back to the berth and nuzzled Starscream’s helm. “And don’t think I’m complaining.”

“I know you’re not.” Starscream kissed him back on the chin. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Starscream, and I always will.”

“Yeah, yeah, you soft-spark.” The Seeker sighed and laid back on the berth. “Leave a cube out for me, when you go, I have no intention of leaving this marvelous berth until the sparklings demand, and perhaps not even then.”

“Is that why you dragged the cradle in here?” Optimus reached in and stroked Orion’s wing. The sparkling’s face scrunched as he wiggled.

“Yes, well, and because I can’t seem to relax with them out of the room.” Starscream sighed, patting Bellatrix. “Part of being a Carrier, I suppose.”

“You know, at some point I would like to get into your plating again.” Optimus purred to the Seeker, nuzzling his helm.

“Then at some point, you’re going to have to tell that medic of yours that I need another cervix cap installed because there is no way I’m getting sparked again until these four are through University.” Starscream smirked. “And we could always have our fun on the couch. You know we can have as much and more sitting up as lying down.”

Optimus sighed and chuckled. “Never change, Starscream.”

“Yes, well, when you’ve fragged every mech in Kaon, you pick things up.” Starscream sat up to kiss him on the lips. “And you know I have some perverted fantasies about that desk of yours.”

“I think when we imagined that particular circumstance, we decided it would be physically impossible without over stretching your wing cables.”

“It might be worth it.” Starscream smirked and batted his optics. “Think over it.”

“Oh, with that look?” Optimus tapped his mate’s nose. “I’m going to have to do my work in a conference room or that’s going to be the only thing on my processor.”

“I think I’d like that.” Starscream laid down, posing beneath the covers. 

“I bet you would.” Optimus stroked his wing in farewell, kissed his sparklings on the helms, and finally left Starscream to rest, as he deserved.

Ironhide met him on the way to the meeting. A tense silence fell between the two friends. Optimus sighed. “Ironhide, I would hate to see that my oldest friend and my conjux are in conflict. I’m afraid duty would compel me to side with one of them.”

“Optimus, I’ve known you since you were a cop, fresh out of the Academy. I thought you were hot-headed, cocky, and bad-tempered, but I never thought you were stupid. Not until now.” Ironhide growled back. “You’ve been carrying on with the Decepticon Second In Command and… And you sparked him up… I don’t see how you can be anything but stupid.”

“Does the fact that we’re in love count for nothing?” Optimus gently responded.

“It raises some serious questions about your judgment. He’s- He’s Starscream for frag’s sake, Optimus! He killed Zeta Prime, was instrumental in the assassination of the Senate, and he’s been a Decepticon ever since the movement formed!”

“I believe he would be flattered, Ironhide, that you have such a high opinion of him.”

Ironhide cussed something foul. “I don’t understand it either. If this was Soundwave, at least there would be a curiosity factor, but every two-bit Decepticon has seen him without his modesty panels-“

“Stop right there.” Optimus straightened to his full height. “You may criticize me all you like, but the moment you impugn my Bonded Mate, you take a step too far, Ironhide.” 

“It’s not an accusation if it’s a generally known truth, Optimus, and you can’t deny: That doesn’t look good. He’s going to get bored with you.”

“And yet in nearly three million years, he has not, and this is not a topic I choose to argue in a public corridor. You are my oldest friend, Ironhide, and I do not wish to lose you, but this is a hill I am willing to die on. Perhaps you should consider if you are willing.” Optimus turned away and walked on, leaving Ironhide behind.

He sighed, adjusting his datapads. It was his tic when he was nervous or upset. Starscream brushed questioningly with his spark. For all his experience in pushing his emotions aside and doing what he had to, he could never hide them from Starscream when the Seeker was pushing. 

Optimus sent soothing love back and a memory of the conversation. Starscream sent amusement back to him, to which he responded with question, and the Seeker begrudgingly added the anger and hurt that he responded to every mention of his whispered title: Decepticon Whore. Optimus sent a memory of himself cradling the Seeker close to his chassis. Starscream batted it away with another memory. “I’m not a sparkling, Optimus, and it’s risky to speak where your medic can listen in.” This was accompanied with a distinct “pay attention” poke.

Optimus blinked and found that he had been standing beside his chair at the conference table a few moments too long and his gathered officers were staring at him. With a slight cough, he settled in. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Optimus.” Prowl replied. “Sleep well?”

“Very.” Optimus replied. “I trust the same of you.”

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe- as head frontliners- were included in strategy meetings and Sunstreaker snorted. Sideswipe, surprisingly, cuffed him. The red mech was generally the more hot-headed of the two. Optimus reflected that Starscream had convinced Sideswipe to stand down when Pharma had gone into labor. His opinion of Sideswipe’s character went up a notch.

The meeting did not go well. Megatron seemed to be holding back on his raids of late, striking hard and fast before leaving. It was a change in the pattern of lingering raids and battles. No one liked it.

“Perhaps this is Soundwave’s influence as the new Second in Command.” Prowl suggested. “With Starscream out of the way, Megatron might be more open to differing tactics.”

“We know Starscream suggested the same tactics all the time, though, Prowler.” Jazz reminded him. “And Megsy never seemed inclined to listen to him.”

“Starscream and Megatron’s relationship was notoriously antagonistic, Jazz. While his and Soundwave’s is intimate and close.” Prowl responded.

“Soundwave does have Megatron’s audial.” Optimus confirmed. “Perhaps I should call Starscream to sit in. He knows more about the Decepticon command structure than anyone. If this is Soundwave’s doing, he’d know.”

“I don’t think that would be wise.” Ironhide interrupted. “No one here trusts him enough.”

Ratchet shook his helm. “I do.”

“What? Ratch!” Ironhide turned on the doctor.

“Look, Ironhide, if Starscream was faking all this, there would be a lot more evidence, and we have confirmation of everything he says: Optimus?”

“Starscream and I have opened our sparks completely too each other. If he was going to betray me, I would know.”

“How skilled is he at spark merging?” Ironhide interrupted. “If he’s good at it-“

“Three million years with a true sparkbond is not ‘good at it’, Ironhide, it’s Primusdamned Godlike.” Ratchet snapped. 

“The timeline confuses me.” Sunstreaker interrupted. “Three million years is before the war moved off planet. How long has this been going on?”

Optimus was silent for a long moment. For all of Starscream’s attempts, they still hadn’t settled on a suitable story. “It’s a complex story, Sunstreaker, and one that I am not comfortable relating without Starscream present and approving. It is intensely private to him.”

Sunstreaker frowned and was about to comment further when Sideswipe interrupted. “We’re supposed to be discussing tactics, not Starscream.”

Optimus nodded to him, grateful, and the conversation turned to their strategy once more.


	72. Four Million Years Before: The Academy

Orion next saw Starscream as the Autobots were in hiding, scattered. He had returned to Iacon, hoping to retrieve some of the data they had lost, or to see something that would help them. He found Starscream kneeling in the ashes of what had once been the Science Academy. The Seeker seemed to be sifting out a handful of them.

“Megatron doesn’t value higher education, does he?” Orion asked Starscream.

“You should not be here, Orion, it’s dangerous for the both of us.” Starscream quietly told him.

“I didn’t think you cared.”

“Today, I don’t think it matters that you are the enemy, Orion. Only that you are alive and there are too many who are not.” Starscream let the ashes fall out of his servo.

“What has caused you such distress, Starscream?” Optimus put down his bundle and knelt beside him.

“I loved this place. It was the one place I felt like I was something.” Starscream sighed. “Well, before the Decepticons, at least.”

“I thought you hated it here?”

“I hated the people who lived here, who made it their jobs to make my life and Pharma’s life miserable.” Starscream’s spark was open and Orion had a sudden, foul image of someone’s spike pressed to the Seeker’s lipplates.

He recoiled slightly at the misery that filled the Seeker’s spark. Then, remembering himself, he pressed out with calm and even a hint of brief affection. It seemed to do some good.

Starscream’s lipplates trembled. “Megatron promised me that the Academy would not be burned, nor the library destroyed. There is so much lost.”

“The Academy and Library will be missed, certainly. But the war is surely over, Starscream. The Decepticons control Iacon. You can rebuild the Academy: As scientific head. And Pharma could take over as medical.”

Suddenly, Starscream began sobbing, large, fat tears that trickled down his faceplates and cut trails in the ash that stuck to them. He buried his helm in Orion’s shoulder and cried until he could barely intake a breath. 

Orion held him, and wondered what could possibly have saddened Starscream so, when his idol had gained the victory.


	73. Jazz and Starscream

After the meeting, Jazz ran to catch up with Optimus. “Hey, boss mech, slow down!”

Optimus turned. “Jazz?”

“I got a question I think you’d better put to Starscream.” Jazz told him.

“If there’s a question, why don’t you speak to Starscream specifically? I’m sure he’d be glad of the company, though he’s still basking in our sparklings’ glow.”

“I wouldn’t mind a peek at the little nippers. I’ll go see him.” Jazz headed off before Prime could say another word, the intelligence agent focused.

Jazz knocked on the door. “Yo, Starscream? Can I come in?”

“Go ahead.” Starscream opened the door. “They’re all awake for once.” The Seeker had pulled the cradle into the living room next to the couch where he had been working on some theoretical calculations. “Optimus gave me a heads-up you were coming. He said you wanted to ask a question?”

“Yeah. There’s some funky stuff going on at Decepticon HQ. Did you know that almost all of the Seekers have been reformatted in some way?”

Starscream set his datapad down. “No, I was not aware.”

“Everyone except Sunstorm has had some kind of modification made, especially the ones who look like you.”

“What about my old trinemates?” Starscream felt a burst of concern.

“Them too: Especially them.” Jazz nodded. “Thundercracker had his wings reformed and Skywarp had Hook work him over into a ‘perfect’ specimen.”

“I can’t imagine.” 

“He’s mostly edges and angles now. No curves.” Jazz explained. “The same paintjobs, though.”

“I see. What’s the question?”

“Sunstorm. Why would he refuse to change?”

“He’s religious, I don’t need to tell you that. He probably considers it ridiculous at best and outrageous to Primus at worst.”

Jazz was silent for a long moment.

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

“Sunstorm has disappeared. No one has seen him, not in a decacycle.” Jazz sighed, pinching his nasal vent. “I think he’s in the Black Room.”

“… Megatron takes a dim view of devotion, but taking Sunstorm to the Black Room for worshipping Primus…?”

“I don’t think it was Megatron who took him there, Starscream.” Jazz sighed. “I think it was Soundwave.”

“Soundwave?” Starscream was listening intently now. The four sparklings, who had been peeping and chittering up until then as their Carrier toyed with them with one servo, fell silent and still. “What would Soundwave want with Sunstorm?”

“I don’t know. That’s what scares me, Stars.” Jazz sighed. “Can I call you Stars? I give everyone nicknames.”

“I’m fine with that.” Starscream agreed. “Can… can you try to find out? Sunstorm is… not well-liked. He’s not what one thinks of when you hear the word Decepticon and he sometimes gabbles on in a rather treasonous fashion. If he wasn’t one of twenty remaining Seekers- and if I hadn’t kept a tight watch over him, he’d probably have been offlined by now.”

“I know.” Jazz nodded. “I always thought that was weird, but then again, I didn’t know you.”

Starscream chuckled. “None of you did. If all went well, you wouldn’t have learned until we were admiring Megatron’s helm on a plate.”

“Yeah… how did that go down anyway?” Jazz began gently feeling. “I mean, I get that Megsy is a full-blown psychopath and after the way he treated you? Pit, I’d want more than his helm on a platter if I were you.”

Starscream sighed through his nasal vent. “Everyone wants to know: Starscream, what’s it like to work with the most insane warlord in the galaxy? Well, here’s what I will tell you: Megatron used to be a mech I admired, one I even loved. Then, he changed. Over years and years of war, he changed. The last straw was moving the war offworld.”

“That was when things started to get really messy between you two.”

Starscream nodded. “And when he started abusing me… set loose the DJD… I knew it was time to take him out. I couldn’t do it by myself, though I tried, so I reached out to the archivist I had fallen in love with while the Autobots were still gathering themselves around a new Prime. And who would have known? He had become Prime himself.”

“When did you bond, though?” Jazz questioned.

“That’s a rather personal question, Jazz. I’d have to talk to Optimus before answering that.” Once again, Starscream mentally kicked himself for not insisting they have a story put together. It was time to fabricate one. He would tie Optimus down if he had to.

“Oh, I see. It was way back then, huh? Maybe before the war really kicked off even?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying.” Starscream sweetly replied. “Would you like to play hot and cold?”

Jazz chuckled. “Are you into games, Stars?”

“I like strategy board games. I can beat Optimus at Quasar any day.” Starscream winked. “But that’s between you and me.”

Jazz laughed. “All right, Mech, you’re all right. But I gotta get going. Plans to steal, stuff to break, you know.”

“And people to kill?” Starscream innocently questioned.

A cold spike shot through Jazz at the look in the Seeker’s optics. Suddenly, he was reminded of how dangerous the mech in front of him was. More really, with the sparklings. “Perhaps.” Was all he replied as he left, knowing the Seeker had won that round.


	74. Four Million Years Before: Soundwave

Soundwave and Shockwave stood on the apex of Shockwave’s headquarters. 

“Soundwave: Uncertain. Plan: Going forwards?”

“My friend, this is imperative for the Decepticon cause.” Shockwave replied. “Cybertron cannot be safe until all threats are removed and the galaxy is refined for our use.”

“Risk; Great.”

“As great as Megatron’s own risk in beginning the movement. Will you shy from it, Soundwave?”

“Soundwave: Determined. Will not falter.”

“Very good. Incidentally, how is Megatron?”

“Megatron: Discontent, distracted. Of late, has been obsessing over Starscream.” Soundwave’s monotone voice didn’t lend itself to expressing hate, but his visor flashed with his optic’s force.

“Then you must turn his attention from his pretty Seeker to yourself by any means necessary. Perhaps you should send Starscream on a scouting mission.”

“Starscream: Outranks Soundwave.”

Shockwave mimicked him. “Soundwave: Intelligence Officer. Can construct mission that Starscream’s pride will make him carry out. A mission into an Autobot-controlled area. He may not return from it.”

“Shockwave: Has a point…”

“And when Starscream is out of the way, our Lord Megatron will turn his attentions and affections back to you.” Shockwave would have smiled at his friend. “And Starscream will be as good as scrap.”

Soundwave nodded. “Soundwave: Thanks Shockwave. Shockwave’s Advice: Most helpful.”

“I’m glad I can help, Soundwave. Go on now.” Shockwave patted his shoulder.

 

Starscream read through Soundwave’s report. “The Autobots have a weapons cache here, but they aren’t guarding it?”

“Cache: Appears abandoned. Lazerbeak: Surveillance.” Soundwave replied in his monotone.

Starscream nibbled his lipplate. “We’ll have to send someone to get it then. Give these orders to Astrotrain and-“

“Soundwave suggests: Acid Storm and trine.”

Starscream shook his helm. He had never liked those three. They were ridiculous and argued too much to be professional. “No, I’ll go myself, with Skywarp and Thundercracker.”

That was too good to be true. “Soundwave: Does not suggest-“

“Soundwave, you may be warming our Lord’s berth, but I am still the Second-in-Command.” Starscream hissed. “I will be going and you can get out of my faceplates.”

Soundwave smugly stepped out and down the corridor. Perfect.


	75. Official Story

Starscream waited for Optimus to come back to his quarters and the convoy found him rocking Orion in one arm, singing to him in Seeker while doing calculations with the other servo. 

Optimus sat down beside him and pressed a kiss to his audial, making the consumed Seeker jolt slightly before catching himself. He turned to Optimus with an annoyed pout. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Optimus chuckled and nuzzled his bonded’s faceplates. “I’m sorry, Starscream. Is Orion okay?”

“He’s fine, just being a fussy little one.” Starscream sighed and cradled Orion with both arms. “I swear, this one takes after you.”

“He’s certainly a fine young mechling.” Optimus reached out and stroked Orion’s nasal vent. The tiny triple-changer recognized his Creator and cooed. With gentle servos, Starscream transferred him to his Creator’s arms and smiled down at the rest of them in their basket. 

“They just fed.” He explained to Optimus. “So we have a few hours before they’ll wake up. We need to discuss what we’re going to tell the others.”

“We should stick to the truth as much as possible.” Optimus sighed. 

“Yes, of course, so our first contact was while you were still a police officer.”

“Agreed. While you were after the Senate, we met, but it wasn’t on good terms.”

“We developed a respect for each other during the Decepticon infiltration of Iacon…” Starscream narrated. 

“…And when the Decepticons leveled Iacon, I found you sifting through the ashes of the Science Academy. That was after I became an archivist, so the location had meaning for both of us.”

“We cried on each other’s shoulders and had a short, informal armistice as we grieved for a city you loved and a symbol I revered.” Starscream nodded.

“And the next time we met, you had been attempting to raid a weapon’s cache with your trine when you were ambushed by a much larger force than you had been led to believe.” Optimus thought hard, nibbling his lipplates. “We have to handle that delicately. From the records, I did spend a great deal of time “interrogating” you in a private room.”

“A private room that had a berth in it. I see what you mean.” Starscream nodded. “No cameras though, thank Primus.”

“We could say that our dialogues led us to believe we had more in common than we supposed and we began meeting, off the record and without complicating the matter with factions.”

“It’s soppy enough for your Autobots, I suppose.” Starscream shook his helm. “But no Decepticon will swallow it.”

“I doubt the Decepticons would ask questions though. Not the kind that my Autobots would.” Optimus pointed out.

“You may have a point.” Starscream sighed. “Most Decepticons hate me enough not to care.”

“So, assuming we were meeting like that, when Megatron took the war to the greater galaxy…” Optimus nodded. “We decided to bond because our relationship had grown to the point that not bonding would be painful and you became a double agent.”

“We continued to meet, especially when we were on the same planet, and when our four were conceived we knew it was time for me to come home.” Starscream finished it. “Simple, straightforwards, and mostly true.”

Optimus nodded slowly. “It still bothers me that we are going to lie at all.”

“Optimus, we’ve discussed this a million times. We cannot tell the truth. It would be your undoing and it doesn’t matter. The mech who held me down in that alley is dead as far as I’m concerned.” Starscream hugged him, careful of Orion, and kissed his lipplates and optics. “And I love you. That should be enough for them. From now on, this story, this narrative, is what I choose to remember.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Optimus whispered, kissing him. 

“No, you don’t. but you have me anyway.” Starscream replied. “Now come on. Just because I don’t have a bunch of nanite starving sparklings eating away at me, doesn’t mean I don’t want you. Let’s take a trip to the washracks, love, while the babies are still sleeping.”

Optimus nodded and stood up. He set Orion back in the velvet-lined cradle and gently lifted the whole thing into the bedroom. “We’ll hear them easily.” He assured Starscream as he followed his Seeker into the washracks. “But what happened to the cervix cap?”

“I went for a flight and to see Ratchet while you were working.” Starscream assured him. “There won’t be more until we’re ready.”

The convoy followed his Seeker into the spray of solvent. “But there will be more, some day?”

“Greedy parent, are you?” Starscream chuckled. “Perhaps. It gets harder though, to carry, as you get older. So, you had better end the war soon so we can focus on our sparklings.”

“With you beside me, I can’t fail.” Optimus assured him. “Now let me wash your wings, and let’s see about that craving of yours.”


	76. A Year Before: Escape Attempt 2

Pharma carefully worked the cuff off. Kaon had to input a code to put it on and to take it off. The medic had watched him carefully for a long time, waiting for a chance to memorize the code. With trembling digits, he pressed the string of numbers in and relaxed as a soft, low beep filled the room. In his corner, the Pet whined. 

“Shhh…” Pharma shushed it as he stood up slowly. He had one chance. Kaon couldn’t interfere, not again.

The Pet fell silent. Kaon had ordered it to obey Pharma and the medic was telling it to be quiet. Still, it stared at him with wide, nervous optics. Pharma patted its head as he picked up a heavy stool that he could hardly lift. As Kaon slept, Pharma raised the weapon above his helm with great effort, but hesitated. This was his enemy, but could he really do something to him that might kill him?

As Kaon stirred and his red optics cracked, Pharma made his choice. He dropped the stool onto Kaon’s helm with a crash. Kaon didn’t even have time to howl as he was knocked out. Standing over him, Pharma heaved ex-vents while adrenals filled his lines. The Pet whined again, getting up from his bed. 

“Stay.” Pharma whispered to it, grabbing a bundle he had thrown together of useful items from under the berth. Using another code that he had access to, he opened a gunsafe that Kaon kept there and pulled out the blaster inside. 

The Pet yipped in distress as Pharma opened the door. It knew enough to know that Pharma wasn’t supposed to leave Kaon’s quarters now. When Pharma was not deterred, he got to his paws and began following the medic. 

It would have made so much more noise to tell it to go away than just let it tag along. Pharma stuffed the bundle into his subspace and slid along the walls. During their last spark merge, he had casually accessed Kaon’s memories of the Peaceful Tyrannny and found the route to the shuttle.

The Pet tagged along behind him, still nervous, its ears flattened. It was confused, torn between wanting to follow Pharma and knowing he should probably be bringing him back to Kaon’s rooms.

Pharma had to pass by Tarn’s quarters on his way to the shuttlebay. The medic grew impossibly more nervous as he passed the door. Almost there…

 

Helex and Tesaurus were manning the bridge when the security system began pinging movement. The smelter reached over and flicked a switch to check the feed. “Hey, Tes, look what we have here.”

“What is it, ‘Lex?” Tesaurus came over. 

“I think it’s a bird out of its cage.” Helex replied, showing him the feed: Pharma leaving Kaon’s quarters… without Kaon.

“Let’s call the boss.” Tesaurus grabbed the comm. “What do you reckon he did to Kaon?”

“Dunno. But if he’s killed him, I hope I get to play with him first.”

“Naw, if he’s killed Kaon, I get first dibs.” Tes argued back, tapping in the frequency for their commander. “Sir? We have a situation.”

 

Pharma’s vents were heavy as he passed Tarn’s door, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was so close.

When a heavy, purple servo clamped down on his wing, he squealed in shock and fright. The Pet yapped and wandered a confused circle about Tarn as he pinioned the medic. It wanted to help Pharma, but knew Tarn was tantamount to Kaon: Attacking him was out of the question.

“This is how you repay our hospitality, Pharma?” Tarn whispered to the medic, his infamous voice pinning and skewering him like a pin through a butterfly. “By attempting to kill your own bonded and sneaking out in the nightcycle?”

Pharma couldn’t even squeak in return as Tarn twisted his wingtip. 

“I spared you to Kaon’s care because I believed he would tame you. It seems he failed.” Tarn twisted it harder, forcing Pharma to bend with the wing. “I believe that means it is to be my turn.”

Pharma whimpered.


	77. Starscream and Pharma: The Pool

Starscream and Pharma met each other outside the Ark, all sparklings in their cockpits. Pharma was helping Kaon with his skiff. 

“Is it bad, Kaon?” Starscream questioned, stiffening his spinal strut. Kaon made him nervous, as he made all nervous. Sometimes, Starscream wondered if he would attempt to bargain with Megatron and Tarn for Pharma and the sparklings in exchange for a notorious traitor. 

“It’s not good, let’s put it that way.” Kaon sighed, closing the hatch and wiping a drip of engine oil off of his faceplates. “I’m going to need some new parts.”

“I’m sure we have something here that can be used. Or human machine parts could be used to fabricate new ones, though it would take time…” Starscream sighed. No one wanted Kaon so close for so long.

“Worry not. I know I am not welcome here and I can’t blame you.” Kaon bitterly replied. “Though I did little more than I was ordered and never more than was my duty.”

“You hunted down and tortured mechs whose only crime was to wish to leave.” Starscream replied. “And though I cannot say that any mech alive today is innocent, there is a difference between justice and intimidation. Your division is badly named.”

Kaon dipped his head to the side. “Be that as it may, I was under Tarn’s command.” He sighed and pressed a kiss to Pharma’s cheekplate. “I’ll have my guard lead me to Prime and tell him what I need. Enjoy the pool Starscream wishes to show you.”

“I will, Kaon. See you when I get home.”

“Of course.” Kaon bent back to his work, muttering the names of parts, and Silron whined concernedly as Pharma and Starscream prepared to take off.

Pharma stroked the turbofox’s ears. “I’ll be back soon, Silron.” The two Seekers took to the air in flight, transforming around their sparklings.

“This is dangerous.” Pharma worried. “We’re alone. We’d be unprotected if we were attacked.”

“We won’t be attacked. No one knows where we are going or how long we will be and we’re going as far from the Nemesis as possible. No one will find us or disturb us.” Starscream assured his worrisome aeriemate. “Come on. This is important, as you’re always telling me when you want me to do something.”

“Yes, but, surely the ceremonies can be conducted indoors in a bath?” Pharma replied, speaking of the first bath ceremonies that they had as yet neglected for their sparklings, waiting to take all at once outside of the Ark: To the open air and the clean, natural water.

“Let them breathe the open air, Pharma, or they’ll be sickly when you finally let them out into it.” Starscream answered his aeriemate, swooping low over the forest. 

Pharma sighed and followed. “You would know better than I would, I suppose. You were always the one who loved sparklings.”

“You love them too, Pharma.”

“Well, I love my own and yours. And if any of our family had them, I would love them too, but I don’t go looking to spend time with strangers’ babes.”

“This from the person who used to keep energon candies in every subspace in case a child should fall and scratch themselves, to keep them from crying.”

Pharma chuckled. “Well, perhaps I did do that.”

“You still do that.” Starscream teased again.

“Hush. It has been too long since I’ve seen sparklings or energon treats. I’m going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

“It will last, Pharma, and you seem to have found a protective mate. I can’t say I’m not afraid of him, but that means that everyone else is too.”

Pharma chuckled. “Kaon scared everyone but Tarn in the DJD.”

“After seeing the fireworks he makes, I can’t blame them.” They laughed for a moment, then Starscream sobered. “Pharma, if you ever need someone to talk to about what happened to you, I can offer a sympathetic audial if nothing else.”

“Thank you, Starscream, but I wouldn’t want to burden you.” Pharma replied. “I am well now and Shockbreak and Lightwing make my spark feel light.”

Starscream cooed to his aeriemate and they bumped wings gently. When the flyers landed, the topic had turned to the virtues of flashcards versus educational programs.

The pool was deep and cool, hidden and shaded by trees that soared into the sky.

Starscream arranged his four on a soft patch of the mossy bank and began opening their modesty panels to take their clean pads out. “I’m going to go with the programs anyway. If they can sit and watch something and be educated for thirty minutes, it will give Optimus and I some alone time.”

“That’s a good point.” Pharma kissed Lightwing’s stomach. “Aww… did you make a mess of yourself? You’re going to be all clean soon, my little Seekerlet.” He gently wiped down his sparkling and then took them both in his arms and sank into the pool with them tucked against his cockpit.

Starscream gathered his four up and the two flyers sat for a moment, contemplating. Then, they began to sing. Arias filled the clearing as they rocked their sparklings. The tiny Seekerlets squeaked in confused pleasure as they felt the water tickling them. Orion was less pleased, but didn’t break out crying. 

Pharma and Starscream leaned back to back as they played with their babies and incanted blessings over them. When they headed back for the Ark, the shadows were growing longer by the moment.


	78. Shockwave and Soundwave

Soundwave and Shockwave maintained their transmissions at least once a week. It was far rarer for the scientist to see the communications officer in person since the war began in earnest.

“Soundwave: Grateful for Shockwave’s presence.” Soundwave intoned. “Presence: Fitting.”

“Supporting Lord Megatron and you through these trying times is my sole concern, Soundwave. Of course, I came.” Shockwave amiably reminded his friend. “It will give me a chance to capture a few of these earthlings for study.”

“Autobots: Protective of humans. Will resist.”

“Will their outrage extend to a mere dozen of the creatures? Perhaps taken by stealth?”

“Soundwave: Uncertain. If Autobots remain unaware, risk acceptable.”

“Thank you, Soundwave. I would appreciate the help.” Shockwave turned a corner and found himself in front of Megatron’s Black Room. “You took my advice about finding a stand-in for Megatron to vent himself with?”

“Soundwave: Deemed it useful. Lord Megatron: Believed it to be Starscream with little resistance. Megatron’s status: Improved.”

“And is our Lord’s placebo still alive? My, Soundwave, did you have fantasies you wished to vent yourself?” 

“Soundwave: Satisfied.” Soundwave touched the key to the door to usher Shockwave into the room.


	79. Introspection

Optimus oversaw the damage control at one of Megatron’s most recent raids. The power plant had been broken open, but fortunately there was no damage to the equipment inside. Optimus looked it over. Once again, Megatron had sounded the retreat almost as soon as the Autobots showed up. It was becoming frustrating to scramble out in full battle formation only to find that they had run. 

Furthermore, Megatron’s raiding parties were smaller as well. Optimus was afraid he would attempt to ambush the Ark at some point while the main force was distracted. He would bring it up with Prowl at the next tactical meeting. 

Starscream landed beside him suddenly. “How is it?”

“It could be worse. Should you be here, Starscream?”

“Pharma has the bitlets and I wanted to check on you.” Starscream leaned on his shoulder. “He would never listen to me when I suggested these tactics.”

“Thank Primus he didn’t.” Optimus kissed the back of his servo, holding it in his own. “Or we would have had a great deal more trouble before now.” 

Starscream nodded, lipplates firm and grim. “We have to get rid of Soundwave. He’s the one who’s behind this, I just know it. Megatron doesn’t just change tactics like this.”

“He’s driven by different motivations now.” Optimus quietly reminded Starscream.

“It’s the same motivation in a different wrapping: Power and control.” Starscream hissed. “You have something he wants. You have control in the situation and control is power. He’ll try to take me back and re-install me in that cycle again, but it’s not going to work. I swear today, I will die before he takes me back to that.”

“Shh…” Optimus hushed Starscream, stroking his shoulder. “I will not allow that to happen. We will stop him.”

Starscream turned his helm into Optimus for a brief snuggle before stepping back. “Well, how can I help?”

“It’s mostly clearing away rubble and undoing the energy siphons on the generators.”

“I can do the siphons.” Starscream walked into the plant through the open wall and began helping Skyfire and Wheeljack to put the generators back in order. 

Optimus and the rest of the front-liners continued to clear the rubble and set up a temporary wall until the humans could repair the building. When they finished, they returned to the Ark, disheartened.

Optimus reflected on the day’s events as he cradled Regullara to his chassis. The tiny sparkling cooed and chirped softly as she snuggled into her Creator. Her brother, Rigel, and Bellatrix were fueling at Starscream’s lines. Orion, freshly fueled, was sleeping on his wings, tiny servos clenched into fists.

Starscream’s wing tickled Optimus’s shoulder kibble. “I know you well enough to know when you’re brooding.”

“Sorry. I was just thinking of today.” Optimus admitted. “Trying to figure out what I did wrong and whether it could have gone better.”

“Torturing yourself over the things you can’t change on the slim chance that next time you’ll do better.” Starscream translated, sliding closer on the couch. “You spend too much time thinking of all the things you didn’t do, Optimus. What about what you did do? You prevented human casualties, you saved most of the equipment in the power plant… you did well.”

Optimus sighed and leaned into his Seeker. “You’re right, of course, I know that, but I just can’t get it out of my processor.”

Starscream kissed his cheekplate. “I’ll help you with that as soon as these two are done fueling.” The Seeker stroked the two sparkling’s backs as they suckled, encouraging them to take as much as they needed. The four sparklings had been gaining mass over the past weeks and Optimus could easily cradle the tiny infants now. 

Finally, Bellatrix and Rigel released their latch and huddled down together. Starscream reached into his cockpit to gently lift them out and place them in the cradle. The three Seekerlets bunched together around Orion, huddling down on their tanks with their tiny limbs curled beneath them. Tiny seekerlets didn’t like lying on their wings, though Orion sprawled out on his back with ease. 

Optimus reached in and gently tickled Orion’s tank as the sparkling slept. The triple-changer gave a little squeak and wiggled. The proud Creator stroked each Seekerlet’s back and sighed, standing up and lifting the cradle with practiced ease. Starscream didn’t want them inside their bedroom while they were making love, but he refused to have them far from him. 

Speaking of his Seeker, Starscream had beaten him to the bedroom and his spark was sending pulses of love and arousal to Optimus’s. The convoy had to smile as he gently set the cradle outside their door and went in to find Starscream spread out on the berth, waiting for him.

And wasn’t this what they were fighting for? So mechs could be together, could live and love, in peace?


	80. A Year Before: Punishment

Kaon was alive, as Pharma had known, merely knocked out. Pharma spent several harrowing cycles chained in Tarn’s favorite torture room as he imagined the sort of things Tarn would do to “tame” him. When he sensed Kaon coming, his vents tripled in time. The electric chair would not be inclined to his pretended mercy now and his spark was closed from Pharma’s. It tormented the little jet that Kaon could read him so much better than Pharma could Kaon. 

The Pet whined when they came in, going to Kaon with a confused and guilty expression. The poor thing thought it had done something wrong. Kaon sighed and rubbed its ears. “Go stay with Vos, Pet, until I come for you.”

The Pet left Kaon’s side, whining, and looking back. Tarn let it go unmolested, his attention all on Kaon and Pharma. “You have proven an ineffectual bonded, Kaon, if you cannot even control your own Seeker.” He was walking a wide circle around them both. Pharma began to feel sick. “And Vos tells me this is not the first time he has gone wandering.”

“I can only apologize, Commander, I never imagined he would go so far.” Kaon murmured. There was no pleading in his tone, only a resigned sort of acceptance. 

Pharma was struck suddenly with a memory of one of his neighbors when he was a sparkling. The child had had a cyberswallow that was always stealing from the neighbor’s. When the child’s Creator had found out, he had punished the child, telling him that it was his responsibility to ensure that the cyberswallow was caged when it couldn’t be watched.

Pharma was beginning to feel like that cyberswallow now.

“Why have you not been hooding him?” Tarn held up the device. “I found this in your quarters, covered in dust. Did I not tell you that this would be the only way to keep him under control?”

Kaon kept his spinal strut stiff. “I did not believe it necessary at the time, Commander, and Pharma is distressed by the mere existence of a… Seeker hood.”

Pharma’s optics were latched onto the black rubber as Tarn stopped near his helm. 

“Obviously it was necessary, Kaon, and I will no longer allow you your free hand with him. I will succeed where you have failed.” With that, he brought the muffling, suffocating rubber down over Pharma, ignoring the medic’s shrieks of fear and the spikes in his EM field.

Pharma was cut off, blinded and deaf to his surroundings. In the same manner, he knew that Kaon and Tarn could no longer hear his screams.

Kaon’s spark touched his. Don’t be afraid.

Pharma responded only with terror and Kaon soothed him again. Don’t be afraid.

Pharma’s emotions reached out to Kaon’s with poisonous intent. It was very well for him to not be afraid- He cut himself off with a scream that went unheard. Tarn was using his voice, was speaking, but not to him. 

 

Kaon faced Tarn after the tankformer locked the hood around Pharma’s helm. “Please, Tarn, don’t hurt him.”

“He has to learn, Kaon, that we are not to be toyed with.” Tarn growled.

“I don’t suggest letting him go unpunished, but whatever wrath you’re planning for him, let me share in it. It’s my fault, after all. He’s my bonded.” Kaon pleaded for Pharma with a persuasive tone.

Tarn considered that. “Of course. In fact, I can more effectively punish Pharma by doing it through you. But you must understand, Kaon, I will not hold back.”

“You’d be insulting me if you did.” Kaon spoke with a hint of bravado. “What are we waiting for?”

“Open your bond with Pharma. I want him to feel everything.” Tarn dangerously stated.

 

Pharma writhed in agony as Kaon’s spark was attacked by the Commander’s voice. He couldn’t shield himself from the waves of pain and the therapeutic nature of screaming was denied by the restricting hood. He couldn’t even hear what Tarn was saying, probably berating Kaon for not taking more care with Pharma. 

But he felt every word.

When it ended, Seeker and generator were slumped in similar positions. Pharma had never felt so close to Kaon before, but he could hear, could feel, everything the generator was. For a long, hazy moment, they became one entity, united in a shared experience and alone in a world created by suffering. 

And the Seeker found he liked it, for the moment it lasted.

The pain started up in his shins and pedes. Tarn was using something on Kaon, some device. Pharma wondered why he bothered, it was nothing compared to the pain he had inflicted with his voice alone.

Then, he felt as if he was being hoisted into the air. It hurt his joints in his hips, knees and ankles. The positioning of the chains was awkward and horrible somehow. Kaon was filtering part of the bond now, their togetherness had been shattered. Pharma had the feeling he was hiding old memories that were being triggered by whatever was going on at the moment.

You can let it go. He encouraged, wanting that feeling back. 

Kaon sent back an image of the Autobot symbol and the Decepticon brand. Pharma hissed, the sound muffled, and remembered himself. Yes, he was Pharma: Autobot Medic, one of the best surgeons and diagnosticians in the galaxy. And that was Kaon: Decepticon Monster, one of five of the most brutal hunters and torturers in the same galaxy. They were naturally at odds, and Kaon was right: He should remember that.

It didn’t stop him from empathizing when their sparks were again assaulted by Tarn’s voice. Pharma swore when that mech spoke, it might be a second, it might be a millenia, but it would always be painful and would stretch forever.

This assault was lighter, grating at their sparks by inches, but not threatening to snuff them. Once again, Pharma wished he knew what Tarn was saying. What could he possibly inflict on his second that wasn’t actually intended for Pharma? Perhaps he wasn’t truly saying anything at all, perhaps it was just the sound of his voice, directed, that he needed.

Something nudged at his lipplates. There was coolant and cleaner at his optics, in spite of the fact that the lenses were dark. It pooled in the cavities in the hood, running into his audials. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Kaon let his jaw fall open and Pharma felt a sick wave of nausea in his tanks as Tarn’s spike slid into his throat. His Commander was a good size, even for a tank, but Kaon had had larger. 

Pharma jerked, choking on a gag reflex that wasn’t his own. His secondary vents spun into action as he found himself psychologically unable to take a breath through his mouth.

Kaon’s spark, in spite of spasming in pain, sent a soothing pulse against Pharma. It was a power play, nothing more. Tarn no more wanted Kaon than Kaon wanted him. This was about humiliation and showing who was the Commander.

Kaon’s glossa moved over the bearings in the underside of Tarn’s spike. The pain clutching at their sparks intensified as Tarn neared overload and Kaon- like a masochist- chased that, doing all in his power to bring Tarn over the edge quickly.

Pharma found himself vomiting as the experience became too much to bear. He was forced to swallow it back when the hood seamlessly closed over his mouth. 

With a spike of pain, Tarn overloaded just barely inside Kaon’s mouth and his transfluid- thick and foul as only a backed-up closet case’s could be- trickled out over the generator, getting in his unseeing optics and up his nasal vent. 

And there was a stillness in both of their sparks as they took it in and adjusted. Tarn was gone. The punishment was over.

But Pharma and Kaon knew, in their bonds, in their single spark- shared once again, for a moment- that it was only over for now.


	81. Two Queens

Kaon finally managed to get his skiff back in working condition as Earth’s sun was going down. Pharma and their sparklings were playing together as the sun set. Kaon put his tools back in the kit and tucked them away. With a heavy spark, he sat beside his mate. “I have to go, Pharma.”

“Please, don’t leave us.” Pharma whispered. “I know the Autobots can get used to you, just like they got used to Starscream… and we need you.”

Kaon kissed his audial. “I’m always with you, Songbird.”

Pharma peeped in distress and buried his faceplates in Shockbreak and Lightwing. Kaon reflected that he had been informed- or warned- that Seekers became clingy when with spark and afterwards. 

The generator pulled the Seeker to his frame. “I’ll leave in the morning. I’ll spend tonight with you.”

Pharma cooed and peeped alternately. “I wish you wouldn’t leave. It can’t be safe out there, and you’re all alone. It isn’t good for you.”

Kaon kissed his helm again. “I always carry a little piece of you with me.”

“Kaon… Please, stay. You’ve proved that you can take on your unit. You’ll be welcome.” Pharma whimpered. “Why do you insist on leaving?”

“I took them on once, and that was because they were surprised.” Kaon murmured. “Who’s to say I could do it again?” Who indeed. It was a definite possibility that he would need to explore. 

“I say you can do it again, and you’d have the Autobots backing you up.” Pharma kissed him. “You don’t have to be alone.”

“I’m not wanted here, Pharma, and I don’t want to be where I’m not wanted.”

“I want you, and if you need more invitation than that, then you aren’t a mech.” Pharma kissed him fiercely and his spark pulsed a wave of wanting and affection far too strong to be ignored. “I’ll be in my berth. If you’re staying, come and join me. If you aren’t, don’t bother.”

Kaon hissed to himself as Pharma sashayed off, Silron- The Pet!- at his heels. How did he do that? The medic didn’t have the control over the bond that Kaon did, but he sometimes took the generator by surprise with the intensity of his passion. The sweet medic could be a tigertron sometimes.

Kaon turned back to the skiff and straddled it. He sighed, thinking. Then, he gunned the engine, still thinking. Turning the skiff towards the cliffs, he hesitated. Then, he sent a reassurance to Pharma. I’ll be out for about two klickcycles. I will return.

Pharma replied. Hurry back or we’ll be in recharge.

Kaon nodded and the skiff headed out.

 

Starscream watched the DJD member driving off into the night. “Well, that should make Prowl’s day easier.”

“Hmm?” Optimus questioned from the berth, reading his datapad.

“Kaon is headed out.” Starscream explained.

“Does that please you?” Optimus closed the datapad. 

“For my sake, yes, he makes me nervous. For Pharma’s sake and their sparklings, no.” Starscream sighed and sat down next to his mate. “Any Creator is better than none at all.”

“Kaon is welcome here, as you are, and Pharma is. I have been informed that he took the oath and was branded as a Decepticon.” 

“Under duress, but branded.” Starscream confirmed. “Kaon has his badge.”

“Then in Prowl’s optics, he’s a traitor. I’m not denying that it’s a skewed viewpoint, but it is what it is.” Optimus sighed. “What were we talking about?”

“We weren’t. I was staring out the window and you were worrying.” Starscream replied, leaning on him. “You know, you insist on your officers taking downtime, someone has to do the same for you.”

Optimus chuckled. “And I suppose you’re going to have to be that person.” He set the ‘pad aside.

Starscream bit one of his neckcables. “You may lead the Autobots, but I rule your roost, and don’t you forget it.”

“Of course not.” Optimus slid an arm about his Seeker’s waist and pulled him onto his lap, pressing a kiss to his lips. “How can I?”

“I’ll decide whether I’m going to take offense to that comment later. If you’re good, I might be inclined to be lenient.” Starscream replied, running his servos down his chassis.


	82. At The Same Time: Sunstorm

Sunstorm didn’t bother with “why” anymore. 

Why this, why that, why would Primus allow this to happen, why was he picked… they all ran around his processor, jumbling up what remained of his conscious thought process. He shooed them away like cybermites. No, no more ‘why’s.

He had some of the answers already, after all. It was easy to deduce why he was chosen for this. After Starscream left the Nemesis, Megatron had grown somehow more and less stable at the same time. Their plans were going better than ever, but Megatron was a recluse and there were men who swore they heard him arguing… with himself. 

If he had only had Hook modify his frame like the others… then he might not be there. But he had looked at himself in a mirror and been reminded that Primus had shaped him with his own servos and made him look like Starscream for a reason. What that reason was, he might never know. 

He looked even more like Starscream now. Soundwave had re-painted him in red, white, and blue. In fact, they might be brothers, though even if he was Starscream’s brother, he doubted the other Seeker would recognize him anymore.

Soundwave had been merciless in his torments: Tarn would be prous. His faceplates were partially melted and his optics cracked so badly he couldn’t close them. He hadn’t recharged in however long it had been. The once-strong wings had been peeled, pinched, and torn out of shape. His thrusters and wrists were crushed by the strap-bands Soundwave had used to tie him down. Every cycle, the sadistic officer tightened them a little more until they had been compressed and buckled. 

Sunstorm whimpered as Soundwave re-entered. What had Starscream done to Soundwave to make him so angry? So full of hurt? The telepath never said. He called Sunstorm Starscream over and over and taunted him. It was clear that this had been a dearly held fantasy for such a long time that it was engrained into Soundwave’s psyche.

Sunstorm barely felt the blowtorch anymore. He still squealed and whimpered as Soundwave slowly pushed his pain tolerance. That was the genius: Soundwave hadn’t hurt him so grievously that he would be in pain for long periods of time. Sunstorm almost always became used to the new pain within a cycle, just in time for him to return.

He had brought Shockwave once and Megatron had been there as well. Megatron had looked bewitched, as if he believed Sunstorm truly was Starscream. The first decacycle of Sunstorm’s time in the Black Room had been under Megatron’s servos. Sometimes, the tyrant had made love to him and sometimes he had torn him at the seams. Soundwave patched him up whenever the damage was too bad. For a time, Sunstorm had thought of him as a sort of guardian in this torment. 

Then, after Megatron had left and would return no longer, Soundwave had brought Shockwave. The scientist had examined Sunstorm as he might a Cyberbird pinioned to a dissection tray, talking about how wise Soundwave was in his choice, that Sunstorm was very, very close to their shared enemy. He had talked long and deep about how Soundwave was venting his frustrations with Starscream. Then, he had asked to share in.

That was his exact phrasing. “Perhaps we should share him?”

And Soundwave had agreed. He had placed Shockwave into a similar trance that Megatron had been in, believing Sunstorm to be Starscream, and they had both raped him, without the pretense of intimacy that Megatron had been hiding behind. It was simple, brutal, and clean in that realization. 

He had been derided, called a whore- and he had been sealed before this- and tortured for klickcycles. Shockwave took his time with him, working him over from helm to pede, had stated that his “time is more valuable” than he believed. 

After that, when Soundwave patched him up until he was in no danger of offlining, Sunstorm had not thought of the Communications officer as a silent ally, a victim of Megatron’s tumultuous needs and Soundwave’s further behavior had only supported that theory.

He could hardly remember what it felt like to have his chestplates closed. His cockpit had been ripped off and left open by Shockwave, and though Soundwave closed it with a plate of clear glass when he wasn’t tormenting the Seeker, it would never feel quite as safe as his own spark casing.


	83. Kaon and Tarn: Report

Kaon reached his hideaway and dismounted from the skiff. Immediately, he picked up the EM field coming from inside. It was Tarn, waiting for him, doubtless.

“Commander.” Kaon entered his hidden cave. “I was just about to make a report.”

“Good. I was concerned for you.” The looming tank was on his guard, Kaon realized, reading the tension in his EM field. This visit was to ensure that he was still Commander.

“My skiff was shot.” Kaon explained. “I would have had to walk before now, and that would have made the Autobots suspicious.”

“Of course. You did well.” Tarn read him for a long moment. “You fought well when we came to the Ark. I did not expect so much power from you.”

“Normally I don’t have to fight so hard.” Kaon replied. “It will be good to be back with my unit again, once this is done.”

“If this is done well, we will no longer have need of units, my dear Kaon.” Tarn reminded him. “The war will be over finally.”

“I look forwards to it. Shockbreak and Lightwing deserve to grow in a time of peace.” Kaon agreed. 

“And how are your sparklings?” Tarn questioned.

“Growing. They’ve added another ten kilograms to their mass. Pharma takes excellent care of them.”

“He is a Seeker.” Tarn nodded. “Keep him well, Kaon. You have tamed him beautifully.”

“You helped, Commander.” Kaon reminded him, making sure to be respectful. 

“Indeed. I’m glad to, seeing you so happy. I will take my leave, Kaon. Lord Megatron has need of me. This travesty… must end.” Tarn swept out of the cave, leaving Kaon behind to consider. Megatron must be feeling terrible to cause Tarn such concern.

The generator gathered up his small things and the secure transmitter he used to send his reports. Once he had filed the new intelligence, he loaded the transmitter into his skiff and headed back to the Ark. He could sense that Pharma was still awake, and charge began to build beneath his plating again. He wanted Pharma more than anything else at the moment. That was the effect the medic had on him: Both a weakness and a strength.

If he was smart, he would just stay out in the wild, keeping an eye on the Autobot’s activity through Pharma’s spark and wait until they could be together permanently. 

It seemed though, that he wasn’t smart, because he was driving his skiff back towards the Ark at top speed. Everyone was entitled to five minutes of moronicism in a day, but this was stretching it.

Kaon didn’t consider himself a genius, but this seemed suicidal. Why did he return to the Ark? Perhaps it was because what he had seen there raised questions that he needed answers to. Perhaps it was insanity. 

But when he laid beside Pharma as his little jet snuggled to his chestplates, face pouting in recharge, he couldn’t make himself want to take it back.


	84. A Year Before: Truly Bonded

Tarn tortured them for three cycles. By the end of it, Pharma was a whimpering, sobbing mess beneath the restrictive hood. It hadn’t been loosened, not for a moment. Similarly, Kaon hadn’t been cleaned or taken down. Neither had gotten any rest and their only solace was the bond, which had strengthened exponentially with all the time they spent communicating over it.

When Tarn finally released Kaon’s chains, he collapsed to the ground for nearly half a klickcycle more, his limbs over stretched and unable to move. When he regained his strength, he pulled himself to the table where Pharma was still pinioned and grabbed for the releases on the hood. He pulled it back and away from Pharma’s chevroned and spattered face, stroking the streaks of coolant and regurgitated energon as he fumbled to open the cuffs, servos shaking.

Kaon was still spattered with Tarn’s transfluid when Pharma kissed kissed him, servos pulling the other mech in deep as Kaon’s arms fastened about his waist and pulled them chest-to-cockpit.

Their sparks were bared moments later as Pharma’s gold met Kaon’s royal blue in a clash of conflicting and complimentary light. It was a desperate, deep interfacing, driven by a need for each other that was brand new, but burning.

As they gasped and panted in afterglow, the soft sound of slow applause filled the room. Kaon didn’t have to look to see who it was. 

Tarn rumbled laughter at their surprise. “I always told you, Kaon. Nothing unites mechs like shared suffering.” He turned easily and left them to recover as Pharma clutched Kaon. 

“He’s horrible.” The Seeker whimpered to the generator.

“It’s his job to be.” Kaon murmured back. With another kiss, he snapped off the shackles on Pharma’s ankles and swept him into his arms.

Pharma held onto his bonded as Kaon carried him through the Peaceful Tyranny, radiating hostility and threat as Helex and Tesaurus threatened to make a crack at the two. They shut up quickly when Kaon’s unseeing optics fastened on them. 

Kaon cleaned Pharma thoroughly, from helm to pedes before he started on his own frame. Though the torments Tarn had unleashed on them had been extreme, Kaon bore few physical marks, though filth was to be expected after hanging upside down for three cycles and Tarn’s methods of humiliation.

Pharma threw himself back into Kaon’s arms as soon as the mech had finished scrubbing off the dirt. Between hurried, desperate kisses, he promised never to do anything so stupid again. 

“It’s all right. Shh… My little Songbird, we’re all right.” Kaon shushed him. “We lived.”

Pharma sobbed into his neck cables, servos clutching. “…You cared for me.”

“Of course I did. I owe you that, and much more.” Kaon murmured to him. 

“I’m sorry… It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

“Shh…” Kaon soothed him. “Come to berth and we can talk about it in the morning. Everything will look better after a long, restful, recharge.”

Pharma allowed Kaon to pull him into the main room and laid down with him. Exhaustion passed over both and they were in a deep, hard recharge.


	85. Kaon's Chance

In the morning, Optimus and Starscream went down to the recreation room for morning energon. It wasn’t a ritzy place, and the other mechs who frequented it meant that it was generally loud, but the early hour meant that it was relatively quiet and peaceful.

The two mechs sat across from the large window that looked out on the canyon. It was an excellent sunrise window. 

Optimus kissed Starscream, setting a cube of energon mixed with coolant and metals down in front of him. “How are the sparklings?”

Starscream ran a servo over his cockpit. “Sleeping like little angels. They’ll stay that way for another hour, I think, before they want to fuel.”

Optimus cooed. “I love you all.”

“I know.” Starscream took his servo, squeezing it as Optimus settled down across from him. “I can’t wait until they sleep through the night.”

Optimus chuckled. “I’m surprised I haven’t woken up to them yet.”

Starscream nodded. “I get up and take care of them so they don’t disturb you. You need all the recharge you can get.”

“I’d like to help.” Optimus stroked the Seeker’s sky blue servo. 

“No, you need to rest. I have all day to nap most of the time, if I need it.” Starscream shushed him. “Don’t argue.”

“You’d better listen to the mech, Prime.” Kaon’s voice was no louder than was normal as he approached with Pharma holding his servo, but it seemed to crack like thunder. “If Starscream is anything like my Pharma, he rules the nest.”

Pharma chirred and they took the table beside Optimus and Starscream’s. Pharma unloaded Shockbreak and Lightwing, handing one of them to Kaon. 

“I thought you went back to wherever you’ve been last night.” Starscream casually stated.

“Pharma made a persuasive argument that my place was here, with him. I’ll offer my services with whatever you need. I know you need helping servos around here handy with tools and, if you need power-“ He shrugged, smiling.

“Well, no one expects either of you to contribute if you don’t want to.” Optimus replied slowly. “You’re here as refugees. Not defectors.”

“I can’t sit around all day.” Kaon disagreed. “Give me something that isn’t weapons and I promise not to sabotage it.”

Pharma flicked his wings at Starscream. It’s not in Kaon’s nature to sit around and let others look after him. He needs to work.

Starscream nodded to his aeriemate. “Optimus, aren’t you always saying we need someone who knows their way around energon filtration better than Wheeljack?”

“Well, yes…”

“You could do worse.” Starscream turned to Kaon, deciding to go out on a limb. “When you were Amp, you worked in an energy conversion facility, didn’t you?”

“I did. I was an expert. Are you having problems with your filters?”

Optimus gave Starscream a look. “We convert to energon from solar energy.” He explained. “It produces a rather potent energon that needs to be filtered at least three times to make mid-grade. It does taste a little funny and Wheeljack thinks it might be because of our filters, but he doesn’t have the expertise.”

“I do.” Kaon nodded. “I can take a look. It might take me a few odd batches, but I’ll bring it up to Cybertron standard at least.” Lightwing cooed suddenly and waved an arm in the air. Kaon’s attention immediately turned. “Oh, what?” he questioned the infant, bouncing him gently. “Oh, what? Do you want Carrier? Do you?”

Lightwing squealed happily and the arm waving increased in emphasis.

Shockbreak, by contrast, just nuzzled Pharma and squeaked occasionally, a happy Seeker sound. Pharma trilled back to his sparklings.

Optimus squeezed Starscream’s servo a little harder, watching them. Starscream knew what he was thinking. If things had been different between them, could they have had that kind of relationship so soon? Probably not. Kaon had been ordered to bond to Pharma. Perhaps Pharma hadn’t seen him as the primary aggressor. 

Starscream sent an emotional quip to Optimus, lightening his mood and turning his attention from the two. They finished their energon as the other Autobots were trickling in and went to work. 

After Kaon finished his own fuel, he approached Wheeljack and asked to take a look at the filtration systems. Wheeljack told him he would have to get confirmation from Prowl after he had gotten over nearly emptying his tanks.

Kaon agreed and went outside to look at the solar panels.

He was the one to find Sunstorm.


	86. The Other Decepticons

“This isn’t what I signed on for.” Astrotrain quietly told Blitzwing. “Soundwave just had me drop… drop Sunstorm off in front of the Autobot base. Blitz, you’re not going to believe me-“

“Tell me.” Blitzwing whispered.

“He was a wreck, Blitz. The kind of wreck you get to be when someone tortures you, systematically, in every way possible.” 

“And Soundwave did it? Soundwave?” Blitzwing whispered back.

“I think so. He was painted like Starscream, Blitz, and when I asked Soundwave what this was doing, all he said was ‘sending a message.’” 

“This isn’t what we signed on for. Torturing one of our own. I mean, sure, Sunstorm is annoying, but he isn’t that annoying.” Astrotrain muttered. 

“What should we do, though? We can’t just defect. I mean, we joined the Decepticons for a reason. I’m proud of this badge.” Blitzwing tapped his insignia. “I’ll defend its honor for the rest of my life.”

“If only there was a way to keep the badge and leave at the same time.” Astrotrain whispered. 

“There has to be one. Maybe, if we could get enough guys together, we could form a third faction. A Decepticon faction, but allied with the Autobots.”

“That’s dumb, Blitz. I know you aren’t the sharpest tool, but you can’t be that dull.” Astrotrain smacked him. 

“I’m just saying…” Blitzwing sighed. “Anyway, forget it. It’s stupid. We’re Decepticons. Megatron will be okay as soon as we either get Starscream back or kill him.”

“Yeah… I suppose.” But neither really believed that.

 

Skywarp and Thundercracker recharged back to back by habit. Still, they couldn’t seem to sleep that night. 

“Sunstorm disappeared.” Skywarp stated suddenly. “Taken to the Black Room.”

“He was going to join the Prime. He’s always been crazy about Primus.” Thundercracker replied.

“What if he wasn’t? What if that was an excuse?”

“Warp, this isn’t a good conversation to have on base.” Thundercracker reminded him.

“When then? You never talk to me anymore.”

“… I’m sorry, Warp, I’m scared.” Thundercracker admitted. “I’m trying to be strong for you and the other Seekers, but I’m not Starscream. I know I don’t command the same respect he did.”

“What do you think happened to him, TC?” Skywarp sighed. “I know he’s been off for a long time… but what actually happened?”

“I don’t know, Warp. It seems like it’s been a long time since we were anything more than Commander and subordinates.”

“Since that mission to Iacon.”

“Yeah. Where he was beaten up and raped by that cop.”

“I wish we could have gotten to him.” Skywarp hissed. “Made him pay.”

“It probably wouldn’t have fixed ‘Screamer.”

“But it would have felt really good! We were trine, TC! And he was my little brother.” He laid back down. “I was supposed to take care of him.”

Thundercracker rolled over and spooned him. “You did all you could. He was a grown mech and he was the leader.”

“But I was supposed to take care of him! And he was supposed to talk to me!”

“But he didn’t let you and wouldn’t. You know that.” Thundercracker kissed his wing. “Shh…”

 

Soundwave felt a good deal better as he snuggled into Megatron’s chassis. The warlord was deep in recharge and Soundwave was fixing to join him. The Communications Officer felt satisfied with the effect having Sunstorm had had on his Commander. Megatron was better than he had been in a long time and his mind was pliable, suggestable. Without Starscream to keep his guard up, he became manipulable. Shockwave was right. Soundwave could have the Decepticon cause and Megatron.


	87. Kaon's Doubt

Kaon raised the alarm, calling for help. With gentle servos, he began patching the Seeker’s open energon lines. As he worked, he sensed the Decepticon’s EM field. It was Sunstorm, the religious one. What was he doing splattered on the ground in front of the Ark? Who had beaten him so badly and who had delivered him? He couldn’t possibly have flown. It was a miracle he was alive at all. 

Pharma and Ratchet arrived with Optimus and several of the other frontliners. There were gasps of shock and bursts of fear in a few EM fields. Kaon kept working on getting the bleeding stopped, focused on saving Sunstorm… and the tiny lives he could barely sense. 

Ratchet knelt across from Kaon and Pharma beside him. The two medics took over saving the other Seeker. Kaon could sense Pharma’s spark pulsing with distress and gently rested his spark against the medic’s, comforting him.

It could be frustrating to be blind. There was clearly something Kaon was missing because he couldn’t see what Sunstorm looked like. With gentle tendrils, he worked his way into Pharma’s spark and looked at what he was seeing. His spark pulsed with emotions he was careful to keep from Pharma for fear of distracting him. 

Sunstorm had been re-painted in tricolor. For a long moment, Kaon was almost convinced it was Starscream lying there. Sunstorm’s cockpit had been torn off and his spark was covered by a sheet of clear glass. Someone had scrawled “Memorium” across his wingspan and over his chassis.

Kaon knew the word. It mean “fitting punishment,” but was used as a warning at the same time. Vos had liked using it when he finished his mechs off back when he ran with the DJD.

And when had he started thinking about that in the past tense? It didn’t matter because Sunstorm was coming online and panicking, thrashing this way and that. Optimus Prime and the twins gently gripped him and held him down, restraining his struggles. 

Kaon helped as best he could. He widened his own EM field, enveloping the suffering Seeker and pressing comfort and care close to his frame. He used his abilities to torment and cause despair with Tarn, but here he would use them to heal.

He had the horrible feeling that Sunstorm didn’t deserve this.

 

Pharma and Ratchet stabilized the Seeker and carried him into the medbay where they kept working. When he was in some kind of working order, the Seeker medic was shooed off and ordered to take a break to take care of his sparklings, who had been whimpering inside his cockpit, picking up on their Carrier’s distress.

Kaon was waiting for him in the corridor outside medbay, knees pulled to his chest. Silron nuzzled his cheekplate. “How is he?”

“He’ll live.” Pharma said simply. “Are you okay?”

“It was a Decepticon who did that to him, and it wasn’t Tarn. There are only two people outside the DJD who are authorized to work that kind of punishment on someone and one of them isn’t here. This isn’t Megatron’s MO either.”

“What are you thinking then?”

“I think someone is working outside their prerogative.” Kaon hissed through his denteas. “But the real question is who knows about it.”

“You’re worried it wasn’t sanctioned.”

“I can’t see why it would be.”

Lightwing piped up, reminding his parents that the sparklings were hungry. 

“It doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s get them fed.” Kaon stood up and put an arm around Pharma, guiding the Seeker down the corridor.


	88. 4 Million Years Before: Captive

Optimus was called to take charge of Starscream. He had known, of course, that Starscream was captured, but he had to wait until he was called. If the Seeker’s life was in danger, he would have intervened, but the information he had was more important than vengeance.

Starscream was torn up when he reached him. Medical supplies were at a premium and the Autobots hadn’t bothered to “waste” any on him. The Seeker lifted his helm from its position on his vents. “Optimus Prime. I never expected this.” There was a snarl at his lipplates.

“Leave us, Ironhide.” Optimus told the red weapons specialist. 

“But Prime-“

“I can take care of myself. What do you expect a bound Seeker to do to me?”

Ironhide sighed and retreated. “I’ll be down the corridor. Just holler.”

“I will.” Optimus promised.

As soon as Ironhide was out the door, Optimus turned to Starscream. “What will you do if I untie you?”

“Launch myself forwards, knock your helm against that baseboard, take that ill-concealed blaster, and take my chances with the rest of the base.” Starscream answered honestly.

“And if I leave you tied?”

“Then what do you expect me to do, Prime?” He hissed. 

“Nothing, I suppose. Except listen.” Optimus pulled out a medkit and began working. Starscream stilled under his digits. His half of the bond was closed off. Optimus couldn’t feel him at all, though he had the feeling Starscream was monitoring his own side.

“Well? You have five klicks to get my attention.” Starscream softly told the newly minted Prime.

“I know you don’t trust me, but I need to apologize.” Optimus told the Seeker.

“Apologize?” Starscream arched an optical ridge. “Whatever could the great Prime have to apologize to a lowly Seeker about?”

“Starscream, I do not see you as a lowly Seeker.” Optimus sighed. “There was a time that I did, but I do not any longer. I have learned much since I was a Police Officer, and I no longer wish to be that person. I hope you can find it in your spark to forgive me some cycle.”

“What caused this turn-around?” Starscream incredulously questioned.

“As I said, I have seen and learned much since I was a young Police Officer, Starscream. I have learned about your people and about why you fight. And… I cannot bring myself to disagree with you. At the same time, though, I cannot agree with Megatron. I might have once, but his vision is growing out of proportion.”

Starscream laughed bitterly. “And what option is there?”

“I would invite you to join us.”

Starscream sneered. “Of course. Fall into line like the good little bondmate I am, I suppose. Shall I take up your brand and stand at your shoulder when you turn the Decepticon insurgency under pede?”

“That is not what I meant and you know it, Starscream.” Optimus sighed, finishing his patch job.

“No, I don’t know it.” The Seeker snapped back. “I may be your bondmate, but I don’t understand you. This turn around doesn’t ring true to me and it never will!”

Optimus sighed, resting his forehead against the Seeker’s knee like a supplicant. “I’m sorry.”

“Apologize all you like, I’m not moved.” Starscream hissed.


	89. A Moment to be Weak

Optimus searched through the Ark for Starscream. After they had moved Sunstorm into the medbay, the Seeker had vanished with their sparklings in his cockpit, doubtless to comfort them. The sudden shift in mood had affected all of the adults and the children couldn’t possibly have been spared.

He found the Seeker in the remains of a forward lounge that hadn’t been entirely repaired yet. Starscream was kneeling on the floor, staring down at their four sparklings, curled together in a bundle of fabric, warm and recharging. Optical coolant stained the Seeker’s gunmetal faceplates.

“Oh, Starscream.” Optimus knelt beside him. “Shh…”

Starscream pressed into his mate’s chassis, optics still locked on their four. “Will he live?”

“Ratchet says he will.” Optimus hugged the Seeker close. 

“Whether he makes a full recovery is yet to be seen. If he recovers at all.” Starscream moaned softly. 

“He’ll be given all the support we can.” Optimus assured him. 

“He was painted to look like me.” Starscream looked down at himself. “This whole thing… It was done because of me…”

“No, no…” Optimus kissed his helm. “Not because of you. Never.”

“But it is!” Starscream insisted. He stood up and walked to the open wall. “I must tell Megatron the truth. I must make him see that hunting after me will not serve him.”

“You are thinking in terms of Megatron the freedom fighter, Starscream. Megatron the Tyrant sees nothing but what he wants. He will break you, Starscream. If you go anywhere near him, he will entrap and destroy you.”

“He tried to do that already.” Starscream mused.

“Starscream, don’t go back to him. Please. For all our sakes.”

“I will not. I think a recorded message will do nicely. Perhaps one broadcast to all of the Decepticons at once.” 

“That would hardly allay Megatron’s fears.”

“I do not care about his fears. I care about raising our sparklings so that they don’t have to watch for blaster bolts over their shoulders. I think getting as many of the remaining sane Decepticons on our side as we can will be a good start.”

“But would they join the Autobots?”

“No, but they would join the Decepticons.” Starscream gestured to his wings, the insignia on them. “With a true Decepticon at their head.”

Optimus nodded. “You would have to make a strike, wouldn’t you? Something to show them that you’re not just Megatron’s punching bag.”

Starscream nodded. “I have to destroy the remaining members of the DJD.”

Optimus looked away, thinking of it. “Do you have to do it alone?”

“I can’t ask you for help, no.” Starscream sighed. “I wish I could. But this is to prove myself, not your strength. If I am going to make them listen to me, I have to prove I am strong.”

Optimus felt a wave of depression and despair. The Seeker flinched. “Will it be worth it, Starscream? Will there ever be an end?”

Starscream pressed himself to the Convoy’s back, kissing his aerials. “Shh… Optimus, there will be an end. I promise. We will end it.”

Optimus turned and gripped Starscream close to him. “I don’t want to lose you, Starscream. Don’t make me lose you.”

“I will never leave you.” Starscream kissed his helm. “Never again.”

Optimus sobbed softly into the Seeker, overcome for a moment. Meanwhile, their babies slept peacefully. 

 

A spindly generator listened at the door and tried not to be conspicuous. The thoughtful, mournful frown that had almost been a constant on his faceplates deepened.


	90. 4 Million Years Ago: I Miss You

Optimus returned to the Seeker’s cell to check on him.

“What kind of interrogation is this, Prime?” Starscream sighed as he checked the seams.

“It’s not one. It’s me checking my bondmate’s health.” Optimus sighed and pressed a kiss to his digits. “And trying to show that I am sincere.”

“I don’t believe you.” Starscream told him staunchly.

Optimus nodded, delicately soldering a few cracks in the servo. “I know. I don’t blame you, but I am sorry.”

The Seeker looked away.

“I miss you.” Optimus whispered. “I know our relationship is bad, but I still miss you.”

“That’s the bond talking. It wants us to be together.” Starscream bitterly replied.

Optimus was silent. “My intelligence agents tell me your relationship with Megatron has become… interesting.”

Starscream felt a visceral surge of disgust and anger as he relived the memory of Megatron’s recent outburst. A fist swinging from out of nowhere and the pain bursting across his faceplates. Looking up into the optics of a stranger in a mech once beloved, seeing the guilt warring with the desire to do it again and again.

All he had suggested was that they give the Autobots another chance to surrender.

“I’m sorry.” Optimus whispered.

Starscream slapped him. “It’s very well to say you’re sorry! You haven’t had to live through this!”

Optimus caught his cheek and gave Starscream a sad look. “I’m sorry.” 

Starscream clawed out at him. The convoy wisely stayed out of his reach. While the Seeker shrieked in rage and agony, he waited for the storm to die down into reaching, miserable servos and sobs.

Optimus hugged him then, and stroked his wings, and promised that everything was going to be all right. That there would be an end to the war.

Perhaps for a few moments, Starscream believed him. He fell into recharge soon afterwards.


	91. Kaon and Pharma: Redux

Kaon stared at the transmitter he had left in a small cave near the Ark. He was supposed to write another report by now. Something else on the Autobot movements. Fill it with data that would help the Decepticons win the war.

But was that what he wanted? The further this went, the less he liked it.

“You could have just told me.” Pharma sighed from behind the spindly generator.

Kaon jumped and turned to find Pharma carrying two vessels of heated energon. “Pharma! How-?”

“You’re not the only person who can find an EM field.” Pharma reminded him. He sat down next to the generator and set his mug of energon down beside him. Sipping his own, he considered the device in front of them. “Aren’t you going to make a report?”

“I don’t know.” Kaon examined the bond. It seemed he had been projecting a desire for help to make his decision. So, naturally, his helpmate had come to find him. “I want to believe it’s going to be all right, but everything is so wrong.” He sighed, shaking his helm and looked at Pharma. “Sunstorm, you, Starscream… Am I on the wrong side, Pharma?”

Pharma sipped his energon again, contemplating the question. “I would say you’re on the same side Starscream is. You’ve been left behind by a faction that grew into a monstrosity before your optics.”

“But I embraced it. And now… now I’m regretting that.” Kaon picked up a small stone and threw it across the small cave.

Pharma leaned against him softly. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Kaon admitted. “I just don’t know.”

The Seeker rocked gently against his mate and the generator considered. “You’re very calm about this.”

“I’ve figured out why we actually came here. I can’t say I’m pleased, but I knew that if you looked at things through my optics, you would eventually see the truth as I’ve come to realize it.” Pharma sighed. “There was no threat on our sparkling’s lives. You frightened me badly, and for nothing.”

“I’m sorry. Truly. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I knew you would never hold with a spy. Though I suppose… I was wrong about that too.”

“You’re my mate. You’re always wrong.” Pharma reminded him. “And you can’t pull the wire over my optics so easily as you think. We’re in sync, Kaon, we may have a stronger bond than Optimus and Starscream, for whatever reason. I’ll always know.”

“How did that happen, eh?” Kaon put an arm around Pharma and squeezed him.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’re just… special.” Pharma sighed and rested his optics. “We have to do something. Either destroy the transmitter and go completely Autobot or tell Optimus about it and let’s see how we can use it.”

Kaon considered the machine for a long moment.


	92. 4 Million Years Before: Pheonix's Bed

Starscream escaped with the help of his Seekers, who still held some respect for him, and it wasn’t for nearly a vorn before Optimus saw him again.

The Seeker was stumbling through the empty ruins of Altihex, calling out to him in his spark. Optimus went to his side as soon as he found him. “Starscream?”

“You have to stop him.” Starscream begged. “You have to.”

“What’s happened, Starscream?”

“He’s building a ship, the Nemesis. He’s going to enslave the galaxy. Optimus, please, stop him.” 

“How am I to stop him? I haven’t even heard of this!” Optimus was aghast. Enslave the galaxy? Megatron had gone mad!

Starscream told him all he knew. It was his first time informing completely on Megatron. His first betrayal. 

And it was their first time spark merging since the loss of Dawnseer. Starscream had needed the comfort and Optimus had been willing to provide. It was a sordid berth, not even really a berth, more a pile of ashes with a covering over it. Perhaps it was a fitting place for their relationship’s rebirth: A pheonix’s grave.

Starscream sat up beside Optimus. In spite of the covering, they were both coated in ashes. “Is this irony or poetic justice, Pax?”

“What?” Optimus questioned, hovering on the edge of recharge.

“This. That my once-lover should be insane and my once-rapist my anchor.”

Optimus was silent for a long moment. He sat up. “I will always be your rapist. I cannot fix it, and so can only repent of it. I hope to be your bondmate, someday, when you choose to honor me with the title. Whether it is justice or irony is beyond me.”

Starscream nodded. “Optimus… when you have Megatron, kill him. It would be a mercy, and there is no way for him to become who he once was again.”

Optimus hesitated. “If he does not surrender, I will kill him.”

Starscream smiled in relief. “Thank you.” He leaned into Optimus and sobbed. “Thank you!”

The convoy held the Seeker as the dawn broke, burning red over the horizon.


	93. Kaon's Trial

Optimus stared at the transmitter Kaon had set on his desk. “…I didn’t bring it into the base because I knew Red Alert would notice.” The Generator explained. “But I believe we can make use of it, so I brought it to you.”

Optimus pinched his nasal vent. “This is… rather difficult, Kaon. Your presence here was highly contested by my officers.”

Kaon bowed his helm. “I was sent here as a spy, as I told you, but Pharma had nothing to do with it. He didn’t even know I had it.”

Optimus held up a servo. “But, in light of the fact that you are defecting- this time for real- I don’t see a need to bring this to their attention.”

“We thought it might be useful.” Pharma explained. “That you could use it to falsify information or something like that.”

“That would be an interesting idea. I’ll bring it to Prowl’s attention.” Optimus took the transmitter and set it aside. “I take this to mean that you will be staying here.”

“If you’ll allow me.” Kaon touched his insignia. “I… I don’t wish to take the Autobrand, though.”

“Starscream has not given his sigel up either, and I think he has an excellent idea. He believes that there are other “true Decepticons” for lack of a better term, but they don’t wish to ally themselves with the Autobots.”

Kaon nodded. “There are. I’ve hunted many of them.”

Optimus nodded, frowning under his mask. “He wants to offer them an alternative. Perhaps you should speak to him. He has a plan, but… it comes with great risk.”

Kaon’s spark twisted. “He intends to go after Tarn and the other members of the DJD.”

Optimus nodded gravely. “He calls it a display of strength. Something to show that he’s powerful in his own right.”

“Of course. In hindsight, there’s really no other way to prove himself.” Kaon sighed. “I will… I will go see him then. Two heads are better than one, and I know their quirks better than anyone else.”

“Kaon. I’m sure he wouldn’t ask you to do this if you didn’t want to.”

Kaon shook his helm. “It’s just as well. He’s right: The DJD are a blot on the name Decepticon. They need to die.” He squeezed Pharma’s servo and both went to find the other Seeker.

Kaon marched on, spark somehow both light and heavy at the same time. He was free, and yet, he had to kill those he had once considered his brothers. If this was to be his trial, he would pass. He was determined. Looking down at Pharma and smiling, he made up his mind once and for all.


	94. 1 Year Ago: Waking Together

Pharma woke next to Kaon and snuggled into his chest. The generator’s spark was calm against his own, thrumming softly with the mech’s life functions. Pharma found himself doing a brief medical check-up as his mate slept. 

Kaon woke to Pharma gently manipulating his joints, ensuring they were in good working order. He allowed the medic to continue with the massage, engine rumbling as Pharma popped each of his knuckles, releasing tension.

Pharma’s blue optics found Kaon’s unseeing ones and the generator smiled. “Well, don’t stop now.”

The Seeker medic smiled and raised the servo to his lipplates, glossa sliding out and licking the joints he had just soothed.

Kaon’s engine kicked up a notch and charge began to gather beneath his plating as Pharma licked and kissed the generator’s chassis. He moved to put servos on Pharma, but the medic simply placed a servo on his chestplate, holding him still and Kaon obliged him, face following his movements as if he could see them. 

Pharma licked and laved at the edges of Kaon’s modesty panel, purring into it. Kaon let it slide open and his slick spike pushed against the Seeker’s lipplates. He was a proportionate mech, of a good size- satisfactory, but not monstrous. His biolights were yellow and glowed nearly white when aroused. 

Pharma pressed a kiss to the head and dipped his pointed glossa into the transfluid slit at the top. Lubricant secreted from it, sharp against his tasting sensors as he smeared it across the head. Kaon responded, softly rolling his hips.

Pharma slowly took the head into his intake, sliding his glossa along the bearings in Kaon’s spike until he reached the base and worked the organ over, with just the slightest press of denteas.

Kaon’s servo went to Pharma’s chevron, stroking it encouragingly as the medic began a light rhythm, moving up and down his red and yellow spike. Pharma purred around it, the vibrations pushing Kaon over the edge. Pharma swallowed as his spike retreated back into its sheath and the generator pressed himself up to kiss the Seeker.

Pharma murmured into his lips. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too.” Kaon stroked his wing. “That’s quite a way to wake up.”

“I might have to do it more often.” Pharma straddled Kaon’s lap, his own panel opening. 

The generator sighed and chuckled softly, stroking a servo down his cockpit to pinch his anterior node, sending sharp shocks of pleasure through the medic’s interfacing array.

Pharma reflected that he wished to believe Shockbreak and Lightwing were conceived on that morning in particular, as they explored each other and made love, truly, for the first time. In reality, it could have been any point during that week, but Pharma liked to think it was then and there.

Kaon left to return to his post, pressing a kiss to Pharma’s helm as he recovered from their play. The generator was very, very good. Kaon didn’t cuff Pharma when he went to his duty station. He did, however, pull down the pair of presents he had left in the closet at Pharma’s request. A romantic gift, wrapped in pink paper and tied with a gold ribbon.

Pharma considered the gifts as they sat on the berth beside him. He had rejected them before because accepting them was tantamount to accepting Kaon. Now, he reached out a servo and untied the carefully knotted bow. With a surgeon’s servos, he carefully unpacked the gifts, keeping the pretty paper intact. It couldn’t have been cheap, and if they ever had Sparklings… it might come in handy.

Pharma lifted out a box of expensive high grade treats that he peeked in at. There were roughly two dozen of them. He closed it up and put it away in the desk drawer. The second package contained an incredibly soft and warm wrap that he could put around his wings. It was cozy and he snuggled up in it to rest while Kaon worked. His spark pulsed gratitude against the generator’s and the generator sent affection back.


	95. Lazerbeak up to Old Tricks

Starscream gently rocked Orion. The fussy little triple changer had a touch of gas in his tanks and couldn’t seem to go to recharge. “Shh… Shh… Hush, little sparkling, don’t make a peep, Creator’s gonna put you down to sleep…”

“Is he still sick?” Optimus questioned, coming in. 

“Pharma says there’s nothing to do but wait.” Starscream replied. “He’ll clear it on his own.”

“What was that you were singing?”

“A human lullaby. I was trying to make it fit Cybertronian children, but I can’t think of a rhyme for peep.” Starscream sighed. “I’ve tried everything. He’s just uncomfortable and there’s nothing to be done.”

“Have Kaon and Pharma seen you then?”

“Yes, just now, and let me tell you, I’m glad to have Kaon completely on board.” Starscream sighed. “It’s a relief, to know he’s not a spy, at last.”

“Well, he was a spy, and now he’s not, but I haven’t decided what to do with his equipment yet.”

“If it’s a standard-issue Decepticon transmitter, it’s a very good piece of equipment. You could use it to spread misinformation or simply reverse engineer it for the design.”

“Both have occurred to me, but I wanted to ask your opinion.”

“Give it to Jazz. The mechs has a good helm on his shoulders. He’ll use it well.” Starscream instructed. “Now stop worrying about work.”

Optimus chuckled. “What should I worry about then?” Orion made another small screeing noise, as if to remind his Creator.

“Our sparkling seems worthy of that worry.” Starscream chuckled. Optimus nodded and turned his faceplates to the triple-changer infant. His Seeker coiled close over him, leaning against his spinal strut and laying his chin guard on Optimus’s shoulder plate. “I love him so much, but I’m so tired of hearing him fuss…”

“He’s hurting. He doesn’t know there’s nothing we can do.” Optimus comforted him, turning his helm to nuzzle his mate’s audial.

Starscream let his faceplates fall into Optimus’s neck cables as Orion’s whining redoubled. The Seeker shook silently and Optimus realized with a jolt that he was sobbing. The convoy put an arm out and maneuvered Starscream into his side, bouncing Orion in one arm and holding the Seeker in the other. It couldn’t have been easy for the Seeker, having to listen helplessly as his sparkling peeped and whined in pain, without being able to help him. 

“Shh… It’s going to be okay, Stars.” The convoy nuzzled him. “Shh…”

“He won’t stop crying…” Starscream choked. “And there’s nothing I can do!”

“Shh…” Optimus kissed his forehelm. “I’m going to take him for a drive. You rest.” Maybe getting the source of the noise out of hearing range would help the Seeker relax.

“…Thank you.” Starscream whispered. He picked up the crib and carried the other sparklings into the berthroom.

Optimus carried Orion out into the base. “Oh, Orion… I know you’re hurting, but you’re driving your Carrier up the wall…” He sighed and kissed the sparkling’s helm. “Come on, my darling.”

The sun, wind, and road noise seemed to help Orion and his fussing quieted down slowly as they drove across the desert. When he finally went to sleep, Optimus did a wide turn and headed back to the Ark. As he drove, he spotted another glint in the sky. Turning his scanners to it, he revealed Lazerbeak. What on earth was she doing here?

Besides spying, of course. Optimus picked up his speed a litte as he crossed the desert and regretted how far they were from the Ark. If Megatron decided to launch an amubush on him, he would be virtually helpless with Orion in his cab.


	96. Sunstorm's Promise

Sunstorm woke slowly, tearing himself out of dark dreams and struggles, to the sound of medical equipment all around him. There was an unfamiliar tang in the general EM field of the place. His wings trembled slightly as he sensed about himself and into himself, finding the three, faint points of light that had been his sole comfort for so long. 

“He’s awake, Ratchet.” A soft voice spoke from nearby and his optics- refusing to focus- latched onto a red and white blur. First Aid, perhaps? The Autobot nurse?

“Sunstorm.” A different voice, lower, more gruff, a different red and white blur, spoke to him from his other side. “Can you hear me?” A bit of a stupid question, but perhaps warranted, given the circumstances. 

Sunstorm turned his helm and nodded, listening through the static that crowded his audials. Soundwave had loved to torture his audials and faceplates. Perhaps to obscure the tell-tale differences between himself and the Seeker the tape deck had become obsessed with. 

“You aren’t able to speak at the moment. I’m sorry, we’re doing all we can for you. There’s a lot of damage… just a lot of it.” He sighed and a servo squeezed the golden Seeker’s own, sending light tingles up the arm strut. It wasn’t painful, though, and the Seeker didn’t complain. “You’re going to be safe now, though. You’re away from all of them.”

Sunstorm nodded again, feeling the truth in his EM field. He was alive and would be well again. That was all that mattered. His sparklings were alive and would live to be born, again, that was all that mattered.

“We can call Starscream and Pharma in, Sunstorm, and let them explain everything to you.” Ratchet told him uneccesarily. “They’re here as well.”

Starscream… the traitor who had sided with the Autobots. Megatron had claimed he was brainwashed by Optimus Prime into serving and even being his mate. Sunstorm hadn’t managed to believe it. The Seeker had never been one to allow another to change him. An admirable trait, he could see the truth of it now. And after how he had been treated, at the symbol of their movement’s servos, he felt no love for his remaining Decepticon ideals. 

As he nodded- yes, he wanted to see Starscream and Pharma- Ratchet went to a comm and called the two. Sunstorm didn’t know what to expect, but he hoped they would answer his summons. And they came, two red white and blue Seekers, just like he was now. They were little more than blurry shapes in his optics, but he knew them for Seekers from their wide, long wings.

When Starscream spoke, his voice was softer than it had been as the Decepticon Air Commander. “Sunstorm… You wanted to see us?” He sounded concerned and kind, and Sunstorm remembered times that the Secodn in command had stepped between him and mortal peril- brought on by his convictions and inability to keep his vocalizer off. He was a worthy leader, both of loyalty and respect.

Sunstorm gestured out with a bruised and aching servo. It was splinted and wrapped up and he could barely move it, but the meaning was clear. Starscream took the appendage gently, and Pharma took his other. 

Pharma… Sunstorm had heard of his treatment. Megatron had taken great care to keep it from his Air Commander, perhaps because he had known- somewhere in that twisted processor of his- that he would be out his execution squad if the Second in Command had caught so much as a whisper. But there had been the occasional whisper, and Sunstorm had been considered too ditzy and innocent to bother with secrecy. He wondered how happy Pharma was now, with both mate and sparklings safe.

Starscream… there was more to him than met the optic. How long had he been Optimus’s mate in secrecy? The golden Seeker was old enough to remember that Optimus Prime had been Orion Pax- an archivist at the time- but that archivist shared a name with the Hero Cop that Starscream had outsmarted and outfought on many different occasions. Had their rivalry preceded their romance? It wasn’t Sunstorm’s business and he would never ask. Some things weren’t important on the grand scale. 

They were a trine of broken Seekers, all of them crushed by something or other. But they would survive. And they would live to see their sparklings survive, and to raise up a new generation for Vos.

Sunstorm promised himself, and the other two, that, in the silence.


End file.
